HP"s WebOS based TouchPad tablet launched on July 1 but since then the company has been trying desperately to get people to buy it. It"s been flooding the airwaves with TV commercials with celebrities using the TouchPad, and more recently HP permanently lowered the price of the tablet by $100. But now a new report indicates that HP and retailers may be having an even harder time convincing people to try out the TouchPad.
AllThingsD.com reports via unnamed sources that retailer Best Buy has so far bought 270,000 units of the HP TouchPad but has only sold 25,000 of the tablets to customers. In fact one of the unnamed sources actually called the 25,000 unit sales number "charitable". The report also claims that Best Buy is so upset about the low sales of the TouchPad that it is asking HP to take them back as all those unsold tablets are taking up space in Best Buy"s stores and warehouses.
In addition analyst Rich Doherty of the Envisioneering Group claims he"s been in touch with other retailers like Wal Mart and reports they are seeing slow sales as well. Apparently HP"s unexpected price cut, rather than causing a surge in sales, is instead making people wait as they think HP might lower the price of the TouchPad even further. HP is slated to reveal its latest financial results later today for the quarter that ended on July 31 but it"s not known if the company will reveal any official sales numbers for the TouchPad.