Earlier today, HP social media strategist, Mark Budgell, announced, from the manufacturer's blog page, that HP had decided to resume the production of its tablet to meet unfulfilled demand. He said customers had responded with enthusiasm at the price drop and that the HP's Small and Medium Business team had already sold out of TouchPad devices.'I think it's safe to say we were pleasantly surprised by the response', Budgell stated. 'Despite announcing an end to manufacturing webOS hardware, we have decided to produce one last run of TouchPads to meet unfulfilled demand'.
With regards to the product availability outside the US, Budgell said the company would try to communicate with its customers in different regions. 'We also know that we're sparse on information about availability outside the US,' he said. 'We will share updates on regional availability as the information comes in'.
Budgell did not disclose any precise information about when the device would be available for purchase, or how many would be produced, but suggested there would not be an immediate release. '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,' he said. 'We do know that it will be at least a few weeks before you can purchase'.
Despite the recent increased interest, HP maintained it would discontinue the production of its webOS based hardware and that the second batch of TouchPad would have limited availability. Also, HP did not exclude limiting the number of purchases per person.
'HP will be manufacturing a limited quantity of TouchPads with webOS during our fourth fiscal quarter 2011, which ends October 31,' it said. 'HP is discontinuing the development of webOS devices and is winding down device operations within our fourth fiscal quarter 2011'.
The TouchPad hit the market for the first time less than two months ago, in a bid to compete with Apple's iPad in the tablets market. Its sudden withdrawal from sales was attributed to bitter criticism from reviewers and poor sale records.
