Defying Expectations of Disaster, HP’s TouchPad Tablet Rentals Prove Recipe for Success

It seemed like the journalists of the world almost wanted to say “Don’t bother,” to HP in regards to its TouchPad tablet release.

And we can’t exactly blame them.

The whole market is over-inundated with tablets – literally every tier one, two or three manufacturer has a tablet in their line-up. HP is no exception in that, but it does excel in other areas. The company enjoyed decent success with its Slate 500 offerings. So much so that the demand far out-weighed the supply, and these tablets flew off the shelves like hotcakes (even with their $700+ price-tag).

There’s a few reasons that HP was so successful where many of its competitors (besides Apple, that is) are struggling. For one, its initial tablet offering was one of very few Windows-based options, which makes it appealing to enterprises that already have their programs built around the Windows OS.

Familiarity can breed contempt, but it can also breed reliance – and that’s a facet that has worked very well for Microsoft.

Alas, HP didn’t plan very well, and due to limited components and production, we haven’t heard much more hype about the Slate 500 since its inception and subsequent sell-out.

But then along came the HP TouchPad. Our editors knew this would be a hot item because of the flexibility of the Linux-geared webOS, and so we bode our time with glee, ensuring that several of these units were pre-ordered and set-aside for tablet rental purposes.

And then we watched, wide-eyed, as the media promptly threw Hewlett-Packard under the bus.

Reviews have been filtering in, but the general jist has been “it’s not as good as an iPad.” “You’re better off waiting for the next generation of this product.”

This maligning is due to the fact that there aren’t a whole heck of a lot of webOS apps out there - -a situation which HP has yet to rectify.

Anyways, we’re glad we invested in the TouchPad anyways. We serve an international corporate customer base – and our customers are just as varied as the industries they represent. Some prefer iOs, others prefer Android.

And luckily.. some prefer Linux.