Chaos ensues as Harvey Norman starts flogging off TouchPads at $98 each, and HP starts selling them online, although prices have yet to be updated to reflect this. HP undoubtedly wishes the queues had been this long a week ago. Check out our photo gallery after the jump.
More:
- Will HP’s TouchPad Be $98 From 2pm Today?
- Where Will All The TouchPads Go?
Following the earlier report that Harvey Norman would start selling off the TouchPad at 2pm, Gizmodo headed to the Martin Place Harvey Norman store to see if this was indeed true.
It all looks relatively peaceful from the outside.
But it’s rather hard to even edge your way into the store.
It will take a long time to get to the head of this queue.
A very, very long time.
Bear in mind, this was well before the 2pm “official” kickoff time.
Nobody cares about any of the other tablets on sale. Then again, they’re not $98…
This chap made it to the head of the queue alive, and got a TouchPad for his troubles. His wait time? One hour.
One oddity; all the Touchpads on sale were in plain brown boxes. Perhaps HP’s embarrassed by them?
It’s safe to say that if you’re not already in a queue when you read this, the chances of scoring a cheap TouchPad through Harvey Norman are just about nil. HP’s official release of the sale states that the TouchPad will also be sold off for $99/$149 through HP’s local Web store, but at the time of writing, they’re still asking for $499/$599 there. Might be worth keeping an eye on it; it seems likely that they’ll sell out just as fast online as they have in real life.
Segiy
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 2:31 PMI picked up a 32gb at the Launceston store for $148
Pyta
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 6:08 PMHey! I found a comment by you!
Damo
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 2:41 PMYou can’t add them to the shopping cart on HP’s site even at full price. Not at the moment anyway.
Thorbjørn
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 2:42 PMLooks like I’ll be keeping an eye on the HP web store
Tom
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 2:46 PM“HP starts selling them online”
?!?!? Where???
olearymo
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 2:46 PMHP, you idiots.
You complete idiots.
You could’ve sold them for $200 all this time. People would have rushed to them. You could’ve edged into the market.
Sigh.
Big Windows
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 2:48 PMThink we had that conversation very early on with Eckythump… It was a brutally obvious proposition… A company with a multi-billion dollar turnover, 10 of thousands workers… And full of numpties.
EckyThump
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:00 PMJust picked up a 16gb one for the Missus,.. Her B’days in January though, so hopefully I’ll figure out how to get ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ on it by then! Although I here WebOS is pretty damned good too, so maybe she can just use that! #]
Morkai
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 4:17 PMthat’s assuming they’ve managed to get Android on it to begin with.
EckyThump
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 4:21 PMYeah, still looking into it, got plenty of time though! #]
Richard
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 5:23 PMThey’d likely be making huge losses in the process too. They don’t want to be in the market if it means operating in the red.
Barry
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 2:48 PMBrisbane CBD store sold out, they only had about 100 units, maybe less. That’s very poor for a city store, you would think that they would have at least 200 units.
TSH
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 2:48 PMReminds me of earlier this year (or was it late 2010?) when the original Galaxy Tab went down below $300 – and lower still – after the announcement of the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Anyone stocking them was practically mobbed!
Matt
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 2:51 PMGot a 32gb from Everton Park in QLD… awesome!
poedgirl
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 2:52 PMHopefully the HP website updates its pricing soon. I really want one of these!
dale
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 2:57 PMtassie even has them at the prices.
goood got me a 32gb. id never buy this kind of thing if it were at regular prices. no wayyyys
Chris Brown
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 2:58 PMI picked one up at Maribyrnong..All in nice branded cases, only me and about 15 other people waiting. Got mine at about 1340.
Tom
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:03 PMAmazing what people will do when they think their getting a bargain. Cheap crap is still crap crap. I have a better idea, donate that $90 to the starving refugees in East Africa.
Shepard
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:09 PMAnd how are they to keep me amused?
Stefan
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 4:18 PMHumanity is selfish, our entire existance is based on self importance. Get used to it
Greg
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 7:05 PMI love you
Christopher Fox
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:05 PMhahaha, had fun for the past 50min ringing every Harvey Norman store in Victoria, and hearing how angry they get at the mention of HP Touch Pad. So then I starting ringing some QLD stores, yep they also out of stock.
ben
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:05 PMsales started at 12 in Sydney CDB Hardly Normal….I got there at 1.55 and they’d sold out.
chris
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:05 PMI was just there and I must say that Harvey Norman handled the situation extremely poorly! They claimed not to know how many units they had in stock and made everyone wait for up to an hour before finally revealing that there were only a measly 40 or so units. Not to mention they only had two registers going, and each transaction was taking at least 5 mins! So even the people getting a unit will be waiting there for up to 3-4 hours.
And Harvey Norman wonders what he is doing wrong!? Maybe keep an eye on trends and realise you are about to have a flood of people in your store. Take 2 mins to count your stock man!
EckyThump
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:29 PMWasn’t a prob in Toowoomba! Straight in and out. Actually most of the staff didn’t even know the damned things were on sale! #]
poedgirl
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:30 PMAnd the listings on eBay begin… $300, $350 all listed within the past hour.
Astroboy440
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:32 PMGot 5 in Bunbury for the family. Happy kids.
Rick
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:34 PMJust picked up one for myself and my brother in law, about to go grab another for the parents in law. Looks pretty spiffy for the price :)
Brian
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:38 PMDidn’t get one in time locally, but nabbed a $99 on amazon. Then need to forward it.
Sika
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 4:40 PMLoweset price on Amazon is $195!
Daniel
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:40 PMI heard about this at uni and i was in a tutorial.. ran as soon as it finished and harvey norman is across the road.. they sold out in 3 minutes… i got there at 2.55, unlucky.
Gareth
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:41 PMPicked up a 32gb one at Marion – South Australia. Was 26th in line and only waited about 30 minutes.
Chops
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 4:41 PMGot mine from there as well. Over the phone was told they only had 20 units. I was number 79 in line and got one. They easily had well over 100 .
Lord Crumplebottom
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:44 PMMost retailers limit the amount you can buy at sales like this. If Harvey Norman is officially limiting sales per person – then either the reports of people walking out with 5-10 of them are false – or HN staff aren’t abiding by the rules.
If they haven’t limited sales then don’t be surprised if there are a few punch-ups.
Iordan
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 3:48 PMgot a 32gb at the adelaide cbd store. 40 minute line, bound to be sold out by now
Chris Brown
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 4:23 PMActually – 99% of the people in front of me in line were staff members. Dunno if that’s allowed or not.
Karlos
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 5:03 PMIf people bought more than one and expecting to sell on ebay for more than they paid for, don’t even think about that, since I won’t pay for one that cost more than the discounted price. If they don’t palm them off soon, they will become worthless as WebOS slowly sink into oblivion.
Lord Crumplebottom
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 5:08 PMYou may not, I may not nor will anyone who is aware of this … but sadly there are plenty of others who will be caught out.
Which is why it baffles me that HN allowed people to purchase more than one in a single purchase.