HP TouchPad bombs as BestBuy set to return 250,000 Units

As Apple and Samsung fight it out at the top of the tablet computer market, spare a thought for Hewlett Packard. While the iPad has been a runaway success since its 2010 launch and the Galaxy Tab is expected to provide healthy competition to the iPad, HP are struggling to even get their 'TouchPad', launched last month to lukewarm reviews, into the hands of major retailers.

BestBuy ordered 270,000 TouchPads to cover the anticipated slew of sales upon the products launch, yet have only managed to sell a paltry 25,000 units, excluding potential returns. The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that top HP executive Todd Bradley is rumored to be set to fly out to Best Buy's base in Minneapolis to try and persuade them to stick with the TouchPad for a little while longer. This, coupled with steep discounts already being offered on such a new product, suggests that HP were too quick to jump on the iPad bandwagon, and as such have been left with an costly, ill-thought out lead balloon of a product to try and sell to the masses.

Rather like the massive amount of social media start ups that have been set up and failed in light of the success of Facebook and Twitter, this is further proof that the temptation to imitate in a rather lazy fashion rather than taking the time to experiment and innovate rarely brings the rewards seen by those who genuinely have something new and exciting.

For new, exciting and innovative products, please see 4Media's iPhone Contacts Transfer for Mac and 4Media's Blu Ray Converter for Mac, the latest additions to the 4Media Catalogue.

By Joe Sheldon