Hewlett-Packard plans to sell its 32-GB WebOS TouchPad through Wal-Mart for $599 when it launches sometime this summer, the blog PreCentral reported Thursday.
HP didn't respond to a request for comment on the report, but $599 isn't a surprisingly high price point considering that the TouchPad will come to market with an impressive feature set that targets both consumers and business users.
Gurpreet Kaur, an analyst at Gap Intelligence, a San Diego-based research firm that follows HP, says the price point is in line with the competition, including Apple's 32-GB WiFi-only iPad, which also sells for $599.
The problem for HP is that WebOS is way behind the pack in the mobile space, accounting for just 1.3 percent of the U.S. smartphone market at the end of 2010, according to Nielsen. IDC isn't bullish on WebOS, listing it in the "Other" category in its 2014 mobile operating system market-share forecast.
Another issue is the relatively small number of mobile apps HP brings to the table. Its WebOS App Catalog currently includes around 7,000 apps, a fraction of what the App Store and Android Market offer. HP claims that the mobile apps most customers need will be available when the TouchPad launches, but it hasn't offered much evidence to back this up.
HP sees WebOS as the glue that allows devices to communicate and share content with each other, and the TouchPad, which will launch with Wi-Fi-only, will come preloaded with print drivers for every HP printer model released since 2006. HP also sees its channel and distribution muscle as an advantage over the likes of Apple.
HP plans to offer channel incentives to partners to get things rolling with WebOS development. But while HP partners are intrigued by WebOS, many are waiting for demand to crystallize before they start investing in building WebOS development skills.
WebOS may have some bells and whistles that will appeal to customers, but it's possible that HP may have to revisit its TouchPad pricing to build market share more quickly. Apple did this when it launched the iPad, trading short-term gross margin for a leadership position in a new market.
Tablets obviously aren’t new, but WebOS is new to the tablet segment and will need to make a splash to get noticed. If it's priced at the same level as competitors, those differentiating WebOS features had better be appealing.
