hp tablet

Apple enjoyed a healthy gain in consumer technology sales last year amid a down market.

The iPhone maker took home 19.9 percent of all consumer technology sales in the U.S., up from 17.3 percent in 2011, according to stats released today by NPD Group.

Based on sales, Apple proved to be the top consumer brand for the year, outshining Samsung, HP, Sony, and Dell. Beyond Apple, only Samsung's cut of revenues rose among the five, reaching 9.3 percent from 7 percent the prior year.

Together, Apple and Samsung scooped up $6.5 billion in higher … Read more

Hewlett-Packard isn't overly impressed with Microsoft's Surface tablet.

Speaking in an interview published yesterday with IDG Enterprise, HP PC business chief Todd Bradley said that his company could "hardly call Surface competition," adding that the Microsoft-branded tablet is quite flawed.

"One, very limited distribution," Bradley said, listing what he feels are the Surface's greatest flaws. "It tends to be slow and a little kludgey as you use it....It's expensive. Holistically, the press has made a bigger deal out of Surface than what the world has chosen to believe."

Microsoft … Read more

The PC market may see a new leader by the end of the year, says at least one analyst quoted by Reuters.

Currently in second place, Lenovo is set to overtake Hewlett-Packard as the top seller, making it the first Chinese vendor to grab the No. 1 spot in a key technology sector.

"It's just a matter of time before Lenovo becomes No. 1 and it won't be surprising at all if it happens later this year," Frederick Wong, executive director at Avant Capital Management (Hong Kong), told Reuters.

Lenovo stole the No. 2 spot from Dell … Read more

Hewlett-Packard will put its short-lived TouchPad tablet up for sale one last time. The fire sale $99 price will still apply--with a few catches.

The first major catch is that the offer will go exclusively to HP employees before going wide on eBay at $99 and $149, respectively for the 16GB and 32GB versions, on December 11 at 4 p.m. PT. The second major catch is that all units will be refurbished, according to a report on TechCrunch, thus the eBay venue.

"In an effort to give HP employees first chance at a very limited supply of refurbished TouchPads, there will be a short delay between when the product is posted live for sale on eBay and when the general public is notified of the sale," according to the letter, posted by TechCrunch.

The delay will only be a few minutes, so there should be an opportunity for the public to get a crack at $99 (16GB) and $149 (32GB) TouchPads.

Another catch is that there will be limited availability (if that isn't already obvious). … Read more

I'm quickly developing a new, quantum theory for tablet computing. Just as it appears that subatomic particles behave differently depending on whether they're being observed, it seems that tablet consumers and sellers start to behave strangely whenever the price for a tablet drops below a hundred dollars, no matter how unappealing the slate was at a higher price only a month ago.

Since HP announced last month that it was discontinuing the TouchPad and other WebOS devices, and dropped the price of the tablet by 80 percent (that put it at $99 for the 16GB model), we've seen pandemonium in stores and at online retailers. We've also seen HP's social-media manager harassed, we've seen civil war among Android developers looking to port to the cheap tablets, and now Lando Calrissian has joined the fray.

Just as any online political argument eventually invokes comparisons to Nazi Germany, under my new theory of touch-screen relativity, any sudden gadget frenzy will continually accelerate until non sequitur "Star Wars" references emerge.… Read more

Anyone still hankering for a $99 TouchPad can snag a few details about the tablet's future directly from Hewlett-Packard.

In a blog posted yesterday, HP representative Mark Budgell said he didn't know if or when more TouchPads will be available but promised an update "in the next few days." Anyone who has already signed up on HP's Web site to be notified of more stock will receive an e-mail, he said. But due to the overwhelming demand, HP has now turned off the ability to sign up for the notification service.

Budgell and fellow HP … Read more

Wow. Quite the hubbub this weekend over the discontinued-and-then-price-slashed HP TouchPad, which buyers gobbled up at the fire-sale prices of $99.99 and $149.99 (for the 16GB and 32GB models, respectively).

The only outlet that appears to still have it in stock is, oddly enough, Barnes & Noble, which currently lists the 16GB HP TouchPad for $101.95 (plus $5 for shipping).

However, many customer reviews note that B&N is "unable to process" those orders--after taking them. Maybe their servers are overwhelmed, or maybe they're already sold out and the product page doesn't … Read more

Fueled by demand for the iPad, Apple shot past Hewlett-Packard to claim the leading share of mobile PC shipments during the second quarter, according to data out today from DisplaySearch.

For the quarter, Apple shipped 13.6 million mobile PCs. That figure marked a leap of 136 percent from the year-ago quarter and gave the company more than 21 percent of the market, according to preliminary results from DisplaySearch's "Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report."

How did Apple reach the top spot? In addition to laptops and Netbooks, DisplaySearch includes tablets in its definition of a … Read more

Today, HP announced its intention to bring a 4G-compatible version of the HP TouchPad tablet to AT&T.

Exact timing and pricing have yet to be determined, but HP was nice enough to tease some of the tablet's specs. Aside from being blessed with 4G networking, the TouchPad 4G will use a beefed-up 1.5GHz processor, and have 32GB of storage and integrated GPS.

HP's competition in the current 4G tablet space includes the HTC EVO View 4G, the T-Mobile/LG G-Slate, and the (hypothetically 4G) Motorola Xoom. Manufacturers have also announced intentions to build 4G versions … Read more