No one seems to know why but HP will begin producing limited amounts of the TouchPad during their fourth fiscal quarter, which ends on October 31, 2011. There are a number of reasons floating around that seem reasonable. Below is a quote from HP’s official blog post:
Despite announcing an end to manufacturing webOS hardware, we have decided to produce one last run of TouchPads to meet unfulfilled demand. We don’t know exactly when these units will be available or how many we’ll get, and we can’t promise we’ll have enough for everyone. We do know that it will be at least a few weeks before you can purchase.
-Mark Budgell
Gizmodo reported that HP may have unfulfilled obligations to it’s Taiwanese manufacturer, Compal. Their contract with them was reported to have been for at least 500,000 units. If true it would be prudent for them to take care of the current demand and contractual obligations. Ironically, the TouchPad is now the second best selling after the iPad 2. If the Kindle is taken into account it places third, yet it still is beating the slew of Android tablets available from various manufacturers.
Many would like to believe that there is a chance that HP will continue to develop these devices in some form or fashion, particularly after comments from the head of the consumer PC division and former CEO of Palm, Todd Bradley, that the tablet may be resurrected. This does not seem very likely at this point but hope, for some, is being rekindled. If HP spins off it’s consumer division, and Bradley is in charge, then the TouchPad may be resurrected.
