Last weekend HP gave consumers a break when it announced that it was giving a temporary $100 discount on its HP TouchPad device. That $100 discount, which could have been expanded to $200 if you went to Staples and used a coupon, is now over. However, there now comes word that the long awaited 4G wireless version of the tablet is available for pre-order at Amazon.com. The listing does not yet show a release date for the 4G version of the TouchPad.
HP made a move to cut the price of the TouchPad around the same time it released a new update to the tablet"s WebOS operating system that had performance improvements and bug fixes for both the operating system as well as some of the TouchPad"s apps like email. However the current TouchPads are WiFi only. This new version would allow this version of the tablet to connect to wireless carriers via a separate contract. The price for the tablet is of course much higher than the regular TouchPad. Amazon.com is pricing it at $699.99. There have been previous rumors that AT&T will offer a wireless version of the TouchPad at some point.
In related news, HP posted up a new blog entry in its official Palm web site that offers yet another discount for people who bought the TouchPad between July 1 and August 4. Those users will soon get a credit for $50 that will allow them to purchase more apps from the tablet"s online app catalog. The $50 credit will expire for those older TouchPad customers on December 31.