cheap HP tablets: [was: WebOS dead [was: Recommendations for Android wifi tablet?]]

[Christopher Browne]

On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 11:23 PM, William Park <opengeometry-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 10:47:19AM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
>> | From: William Park <opengeometry-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org>
>>
>> | It's scam.  All stores are out of stock.
>>
>> What do you mean by the word "scam"?
>>
>> To me, it means a dishonest tricky deal.
>>
>> This doesn't look to be dishonest in any way.  More like a "firesale"
>> that created a feeding frenzy.  See
>> <http://forums.redflagdeals.com/merged-hp-touchpad-16gb-99-99-32gb-149-99-everywhere-1072318/>
>> -- 4502 messages so far and 1121 folks reading the thread at the
>> moment!  It appears that they've sold out all available stock.
>>
>> They may subsequently find more stock somewhere in the supply chain,
>> but they surely have halted manufacture of these units (there is an
>> estimate that the Bill of Material cost to HP is $300; that seems
>> high, but they are not making a profit at $100 retail).
>
> It's old "bait and switch" tactic.

Not too likely.

That would require that there be some way, after the fact, for HP to
force these customers to spend a bunch more money later.  There has to
be money in the "switch."

If HP were to say, "oh, you can't use that unless you send us *more*
money," which is what "bait and switch" would imply, then:

a) They'd get pilloried by the retailers that they've just screwed.
b) Can you say "class action lawsuit"?
c) The tablet only cost $100 - it's not that big a deal to discard it
if they try to force some high fee.

What this is underlining that is further unfortunate is that the
realms of mobile phones and tablets are demonstrating that, if
suitably layered with proprietary bits, "Linux" is not necessarily any
more 'open' than, say, Windows.

There's a "bait and switch" to be found there - people *imagine* that
because (Android|Maemo) include Linux, that there's some freeness or
freedom to be found there, and it's not necessarily so.
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