# Bestbuy Bundling 32Gb Touchpads



## Bimmer84 (Aug 22, 2011)

Incase you were unaware, BestBuy, starting today, will be bundling 32gb Touchpads for 149.99 with an approved laptop/desktop purchase. So, anyone in the need of a crap laptop might wanna jump on this. I just bought my wife a new one, she doesn't need anything spectacular, and picked up the TP as well.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=category&id=pcmcat256900050019


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## exponent (Aug 24, 2011)

"If you return the computer that qualifies you to purchase the HP TouchPad at this price and you do not return the Touchpad at the same time, your return will void the $450 combined purchase savings and you will owe more money than you originally paid."

Dang it!


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## Bimmer84 (Aug 22, 2011)

Lol... thought the same...


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## dark_angel (Sep 2, 2011)

Another example of "Worst Buy" crappy marketing techniques.


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## evoic (Oct 19, 2011)

dark_angel said:


> Another example of "Worst Buy" crappy marketing techniques.


Please do not fool yourself into thinking that this is true.
At least, not in it's entirety, that is.

What is at play here is that with the HP Touchpad fire sale coupled with the uncertainty of HP's PC Division possibly being sold off, their PC sales hit a massive brick wall and essentially, well......stopped.
Corporate customers did not understand the ramifications of the PC division being sold off and corporations hate uncertainty, so they cooled off on their IT buys.
Consumer level customers did not want to buy a PC that would possibly be named Ching-Chong Computers by next week in addition to the fact that the hunt for a $99 Touchpad was way more fun, lucrative if resold, and potentially enjoyable vs. a standard desktop PC.

HP knows that everyone wants the Touchpad.
Best Buy knows that no one will pay more than the perceived, "value" pricepoint of $99/$149.
HP tells BB to hold the price but add the fries....in this case, a PC purchase to revitalize their PC division numbers and hopefully bolster what is quickly becoming a nose-dive of a quarter for a division that they just decided to hang onto instead of sell or branch off.

Is Best Buy the devil? Without a doubt.
Is this solely Best Buy's decision? Not likely.


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## nvmax (Oct 19, 2011)

evoic said:


> Please do not fool yourself into thinking that this is true.
> At least, not in it's entirety, that is.
> 
> What is at play here is that with the HP Touchpad fire sale coupled with the uncertainty of HP's PC Division possibly being sold off, their PC sales hit a massive brick wall and essentially, well......stopped.
> ...


It only nose dived because leo said they were spinning it off... so now its not being sold off they are coming back up..


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## dark_angel (Sep 2, 2011)

evoic said:


> Please do not fool yourself into thinking that this is true..............Is Best Buy the devil? Without a doubt. Is this solely Best Buy's decision? Not likely.


OK put it like that:
Another example of "Worst Buy and HP" crappy marketing techniques.

So the manufacturing cost of HP Touchpad as stated by HP is $318. I don't think so that HP will manufacture more touchpads at this cost and let it go with their computers for $150 and loose $150 at first place. Its only "Worst Buy" who withheld the big chunk of the shipments of Touchpads for this and may be other "Add a fries" sale.


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## evoic (Oct 19, 2011)

dark_angel said:


> OK put it like that:
> Another example of "Worst Buy and HP" crappy marketing techniques.
> 
> So the manufacturing cost of HP Touchpad as stated by HP is $318. I don't think so that HP will manufacture more touchpads at this cost and let it go with their computers for $150 and loose $150 at first place.
> ...


Until you see other mass-retailers getting delivery of Touchpads and doing differently, your statement is only half-baked for the moment.
Regarding the manufacturing cost, I actually work in the technology industry as a distributor for board-level electronic components and peripherals.
That cost was cited by iSupply for the 32GB and it was nearly 2 quarters ago when those figures were gleaned from the manufacturers B.O.M.

Do you really think that the current price to make one sits at $318?
Okay, so, now onto the next point.....is it less than $149.99? No, definitely not, confirming your assertion that HP is taking a loss.

I firmly believe that HP knows the score and realizes that they cannot raise the prices to the retailers or they will be under a PR mountain of dung, the likes of which they've never seen. (and given their recent history with screw ups, this would be of epic proportions)
Instead, they are forced to give the price to the retailers.
Knowing this, it's not against the rule for them to insist that the retailers bundle it with another of HP's items in order to qualify.

That, and that ALONE is the driving force behind what you're seeing from Best Buy's offer.

Contrary to your post, I actually believe that this will be done with at least one or more big name resellers in order for HP to limit their loss on the TouchPad and gain market share on the whole with the PC's.


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## Bimmer84 (Aug 22, 2011)

My view on the cost to make vs the cost to sell is this:

Assuming cost to make is $318 and they sell for $149.99, they take a $168.01 loss. Let's say they sell 500,000 touchpads (I have no idea the real number or feel like researching, but we'll use that). 500,000 x 168.01 is $84,005,000. So they lose 84 million dollars. How much advertisement has this received? How much would this advertisement have actually costed to make commercials, billboards, magazine spreads and whatnot. Way more than 84 million dollars.. that is for sure. For some companies, any publicity is good publicity. Maybe they knew that webOS wouldn't catch on like Android or iOS, but if they get it out there cheap enough, they will get their OS out there, and people like it, etc, etc. So, me personally, I look at all this as advertisement, with the "dumping webOS" all part of the plan to make it more popular than it ever would have been without the announcement. We all know they dropped their CEO, and we will probably see a revamp. Only time will tell at this point.


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## dark_angel (Sep 2, 2011)

If other retailers do come with this type of offer than only it will proves your opinion. If not, I stand firm.


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## Bimmer84 (Aug 22, 2011)

It would also depend on what other retailers still have them. Wal-Mart sells a lot of HP products as well, so it is possible we will see it there. I hadn't even thought about it before, but how many people do you think will rush to upgrade their "semi new already" laptop or PC, just to be able to own the TP they couldn't get during fire sale... Ingenious plan if you ask me.


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## Frunple (Sep 8, 2011)

These aren't new TP's. They were kept in stock just for this reason. Anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong. There will not be any other stores selling them, HP is not making more of them. (<<<---note the period)


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## evoic (Oct 19, 2011)

Frunple said:


> These aren't new TP's. They were kept in stock just for this reason. Anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong. There will not be any other stores selling them, HP is not making more of them. (<<<---note the period)


And I know, from having my feet on the ground within the IC supply chain and the CEM visibility that you are absolutely and completely 100% incorrect.

In fact, not only did they continue building using materials that were originally on-hand, they, in fact, had to place additional orders to fill allocation gaps in order to get the builds finished.
Once the entire full amount is finished with production (1.2 million units cited initially before the chaos began) there will be no additional manufacturing.

It does a disservice to people that are genuinely interested in this information when people that do not know the facts stand up and expound as if they are informed.


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## dark_angel (Sep 2, 2011)

Frunple said:


> These aren't new TP's. They were kept in stock just for this reason. Anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong. There will not be any other stores selling them, HP is not making more of them. (<<<---note the period)


In my opinion you are 90% correct. If other retailers do come up with similar offer/s you and myself will be wrong. On the other hand I am no Judge.


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## Bimmer84 (Aug 22, 2011)

Your avatar is ironic to me right now... but I do appreciate that you say you could be wrong. I am not saying I am right, but I did provide a lot more logic than simply saying Best Buy and HP suck.


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## nsfw (Oct 13, 2011)

Wouldn't it be better to buy a touchpad on ebay for $210 (or so) if you really wanted one than buy in on bestbuys generally poor pricing? Unless its an Apple product where there are nearly no discounts, I don't see very many good deals at bestbuy.


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## Bimmer84 (Aug 22, 2011)

Yes, but feel me out here, that is not how the human mind works. The average person still wants to buy the touchpad for the 149.99 price, so as to feel like they are not being ripped off. People know it was 149.99, and don't want to pay more. So they will go out, buy a 500 dollar laptop, just to be able to pay the 149.99 for the touchpad. HP devised an ingenious plan, to not only continue to sell out their touchpad, but revamp their PC sales at the same time. HP is targeting, and has always targeted the average consumer, who needs nothing more than a decent product. I don't expect most of this forum to jump on this deal, but most of us give a shit a little more about our electronics than most people clearly, or we wouldn't be here. I didn't think it would spark a debate such as this, but I am glad I can shed my views of HP. I respect ingenious marketing ploys, and this is one of the most ingenious I have seen in a very long time. C:\End\Rant>_


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## Frunple (Sep 8, 2011)

evoic said:


> And I know, from having my feet on the ground within the IC supply chain and the CEM visibility that you are absolutely and completely 100% incorrect.
> 
> In fact, not only did they continue building using materials that were originally on-hand, they, in fact, had to place additional orders to fill allocation gaps in order to get the builds finished.
> Once the entire full amount is finished with production (1.2 million units cited initially before the chaos began) there will be no additional manufacturing.
> ...


Remember when Best Buy wasn't selling any TP's at first??? wehat do you think they were doing? They figured out how many they have on hand, and how many they could sell at that moment and still have a stock pile left for this exact reason.
You will be proven wrong.


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## bcrawford (Oct 14, 2011)

Bimmer84 said:


> Yes, but feel me out here, that is not how the human mind works. The average person still wants to buy the touchpad for the 149.99 price, so as to feel like they are not being ripped off. People know it was 149.99, and don't want to pay more. So they will go out, buy a 500 dollar laptop, just to be able to pay the 149.99 for the touchpad. HP devised an ingenious plan, to not only continue to sell out their touchpad, but revamp their PC sales at the same time. HP is targeting, and has always targeted the average consumer, who needs nothing more than a decent product. I don't expect most of this forum to jump on this deal, but most of us give a shit a little more about our electronics than most people clearly, or we wouldn't be here. I didn't think it would spark a debate such as this, but I am glad I can shed my views of HP. I respect ingenious marketing ploys, and this is one of the most ingenious I have seen in a very long time. C:\End\Rant>_


This is not some amazing new marketing strategy. This is a tie-in sale. The demand for the touchpad heavily outweighs the supply, creating a shortage. One of the ways of dealing with shortages is using an alternative rationing device, hence the tie-in sale. It's done in many other areas of the economy. Economics 101........


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## Bimmer84 (Aug 22, 2011)

I didn't say it was new. Thanks for the insight though.


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## evoic (Oct 19, 2011)

Frunple said:


> Remember when Best Buy wasn't selling any TP's at first??? wehat do you think they were doing? They figured out how many they have on hand, and how many they could sell at that moment and still have a stock pile left for this exact reason.
> You will be proven wrong.


Listen. I get it.
You're defensive because of my tone and that's fine.
No one wants to be proven wrong so publicly after taking such a firm stance on their position / opinion.

I cannot give you a screenshot from a work computer showing continued requirements for HP Touchpad Bill of Material items coming in as recently as October 20th.
I cannot put you in touch with Global commodity Managers for Inventec in China and Malaysia.
I also cannot tell you which items are readily available in the market and which items Inventec is actually paying MORE for, then they did prior to the fire sale.
If you are not following, understand it like this......._hypothetically_:
August: MAXIM Integrated Circuit: $2.12 in quantities of 10,000-50,000
October: MAXIM Integrated Circuit: $2.48 in quantities of 10,000-50,000

That means that the CEM is actually having to go back to HP (on more than one item, I assure you) and get PPV approval for the higher price.
PPV in the electronics world, for those of you not familiar, stands for Purchase Price Variance.
In essence, they contract for a build and when there are no longer materials at that price, the CEM (Inventec) gives the end-customer (HP) the opportunity to find the parts themselves, delay production, or pony up the extra cash.

You get three guesses as to which option HP is taking these days in order to try to fill demand for their channel partners.

While you appear adamant to prove me wrong down the road by some perceived event that will back up your claim......I don't need to wait for something to happen down the road, you are incorrect at this very moment, regardless of what transpires in the coming days or weeks.
To see additional retailers bundle systems with the Touchpad only serves to illustrate that you are wrong in that regard as well.
It's fine.
In the end, it doesn't matter who's wrong.
Best Buy will still be sleazy.
HP will still be a clown circus that has lost it's way on an epic scale.
The market will still reap the benefits of the shift in perception for tablet pricing and Black Friday will be a party this year for tech geeks such as yourself and I.

*@Bimmer84 -* I'm feeling what you're laying down. I agree with most of your comments offered so far in this thread.


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## waiving (Sep 9, 2011)

Bimmer84 said:


> It would also depend on what other retailers still have them. Wal-Mart sells a lot of HP products as well, so it is possible we will see it there. I hadn't even thought about it before, but how many people do you think will rush to upgrade their "semi new already" laptop or PC, just to be able to own the TP they couldn't get during fire sale... Ingenious plan if you ask me.


fwiw...interesting thing i overheard at wal-mart last night...i was in the electronics section actually looking to see if they had any touchstone chargers sitting around (i check periodically for stuff in their clearance area) and a phone call comes in that the gentleman at the desk takes. i wasn't really listening but i heard him put the caller on hold and ask another associate about a certain hp laptop. the second associate relates to the first that "we are not carrying hp computers anymore". the first associate asks again to clarify and gets the same answer, which he then passes on to the customer on the phone.

i'm not positive of the validity of this information, but frankly i would not be surprised. there seemed to be a complete dirth of hp pc products at wal-mart when in the recent past that was almost all you could find there...

as for the best buy bundle - i too got in on that. i've been kicking myself since the firesale for not getting the 32 gb model (i did get 2 16 gb units), so this seemed like a perfect opportunity for me. i had not heard of the deal, but i was logged on to look for a laptop for my daughter's birthday. since i just got my irs refund back (i had extended the filing but that's beside the point) so i have the money and wanted to get her a computer before it was all spoken for. so getting the laptop seemed even better since i could also get in on the $149 touchpad deal.

i am not a best buy fanboy, but i do at times shop there for convenience (read laziness) and ship to store saving if the price is right. so i'm pretty excited. and the bonus is i can also give my daughter one of the 16 gb touchpads for christmas and still have a couple to fool around with and one less christmas present to buy!


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## Bimmer84 (Aug 22, 2011)

Relevant: http://www.tigerdirect.com/sectors/campaigns/hp/touchpad_available.asp?SRCCODE=WEM2874TT&cm_mmc=email-_-Main-_-WEM2874-_-tigeremail&inbeta=Y


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## pauljohn696969 (Aug 26, 2011)

As as Canadian HP retailer, I can tell you that HP did produce an additioanl allotment of Touchpad's to fill their existing backorders. They have oversold the units at the clearence price on their own website and wanted to produce enough units to honor their commitment to their own clients.

As it turned out, they ended up with extra's which they are using as a lost leader to boost their failing PC sales. The announcement that HP was getting out of the PC business (selling the division off), caused an immediate drop in sales from their larger retail and corporate clients. Now that they have decided to stay in the PC business, they are doing why they can to repair the damage caused by the former CEO.

Our dealership was offered an allotment of TouchPad's but we refused since we still had 100 in stock. In hindsite, I wish we had accepted them since there is still at demand even at the $249 price we would have had to sell them for.

From a marketing point, bundling the TouchPad with hig profit accessories makes sense. The consumer sees this as an advanatage and most are not awear that the accessores only cost about $30 total. The resellers are still clearing about $100 on each sale.


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## evoic (Oct 19, 2011)

pauljohn696969 said:


> As as Canadian HP retailer, I can tell you that HP did produce an additioanl allotment of Touchpad's to fill their existing backorders. They have oversold the units at the clearence price on their own website and wanted to produce enough units to honor their commitment to their own clients.
> 
> As it turned out, they ended up with extra's which they are using as a lost leader to boost their failing PC sales. The announcement that HP was getting out of the PC business (selling the division off), caused an immediate drop in sales from their larger retail and corporate clients. Now that they have decided to stay in the PC business, they are doing why they can to repair the damage caused by the former CEO.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the further confirmation of what most people do not seem to want to accept.


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## piiman (Aug 21, 2011)

Frunple said:


> Remember when Best Buy wasn't selling any TP's at first??? wehat do you think they were doing? They figured out how many they have on hand, and how many they could sell at that moment and still have a stock pile left for this exact reason.
> You will be proven wrong.


Maybe its just me? 

But you don't have any proof either and I'd tend to believe someone that works in the supply chain and HP themselves, who have said they were making more, than you with absolutely no creditability or knowledge of what you claim.


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## piiman (Aug 21, 2011)

bcrawford said:


> This is not some amazing new marketing strategy. This is a tie-in sale. The demand for the touchpad heavily outweighs the supply, creating a shortage. One of the ways of dealing with shortages is using an alternative rationing device, hence the tie-in sale. It's done in many other areas of the economy. Economics 101........


More like Retailing 101.....


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## piiman (Aug 21, 2011)

Frunple said:


> Post Deleted by ro6666lt.


Psssst I think he was being sarcastic. So who can you put us in touch with that can prove your Best Buy held them back claim?


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## theb00g1em4n (Nov 6, 2011)

also if its only a case of bestbuy holding them back and not hp making anymore, why are hp now taking orders from the dev site for up coming stock of the touchpad?

https://developer.palm.com/content/resources/develop/developer_device_program.html


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## evoic (Oct 19, 2011)

theb00g1em4n said:


> also if its only a case of bestbuy holding them back and not hp making anymore, why are hp now taking orders from the dev site for up coming stock of the touchpad?
> 
> https://developer.pa...ce_program.html


I will not be taking this opportunity, once again, to say, "I told you so".......that would be just rude.
Thanks for the post.


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## boss13 (Oct 15, 2011)

I am so glad that I got in on the original sale. I scored 3 from HP direct, and two on Saturday morning (of the sale weekend) at Walmart. These schemes that HP is doing are rather pathetic, but I guess those who were interested in buying a laptop or desktop, it is a good option to also get a touchpad.

Oh yeah, I kept 4 touchpads for myself and ended up selling the 5th one.


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## evoic (Oct 19, 2011)

Frunple said:


> In my opinion you are 90% correct. If other retailers do come up with similar offer/s you and myself will be wrong. On the other hand I am no Judge.


I think you're a good egg, Dark_angel, here is some additional proof to further support my claim
http://www.walmart.c...ner=lw9MynSeamY


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## evoic (Oct 19, 2011)

Here's another major retailer selling new HP Touchpads and bundling them with another HP PC / Notebook purchase:

*http://www.circuitci...TD&body=REBATES*


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## ro6666lt (Sep 2, 2011)

Everyone, please keep it civil. thanks!


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