HP Updates $99 TouchPad, Offers Free Apps

About 2 weeks ago, Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced it would discontinue its TouchPad, and later drastically slashed it's prices by 75%. This of course stirred much interest in the product, as they flew off store shelves in only a few days time.

Questions remain as to the usefulness of a tablet that has been discontinued, as software updates are critically important to patch bugs and vulnerabilities. Thankfully, a new update by HP may have increased the life of the doomed device.

HP Says it's "Fully Committed" to Supporting Doomed TouchPad

According to the company the new update means more programs will be available for the device.

"HP is fully committed to the ongoing support and service of customers who purchased webOS devices," HP said in a recent statement. "We plan to continue to investigate the best ways to leverage WebOS software and grow the applications." (Source: cnet.com)

"Six Pack" of Free Apps On-the-Way

Another way the company plans to make people comfortable about a TouchPad purchase is to offer some free apps. HP says it will soon distribute a "six pack" of no-charge applications, including Angry Birds Rio HD and FlightPredictor HD. (Source: informationweek.com)

HP is even offering free updates for Quickoffice, its rendition on office software. "Quickoffice HD adds editing capabilities (for Microsoft Word and Excel) to give you more abilities to draft and update documents," HP revealed.

Questions Linger about Continued Support

The obvious question is, why would HP continue to support a device that is discontinued?

Critics suggest that ongoing support would continue to stir up interest in the device, thus increasing its demand.

The move makes financial sense. By slashing the price of the TouchPad and giving it away, this would ultimately drive up the price of WebOS, should HP decide to sell it off. (Source: brandchannel.com)

WebOS was originally developed by Palm, which was acquired by HP in a merger.