People love this cheap TouchPad thing. So much, in fact, that HP set up an email alert system to let you know when TouchPads are back in stock. Today the emails went out, but it wasn’t for TouchPads. It was for printers. And ink cartridges. And literally everything but TouchPads:
We are grateful for your patience and loyalty and to show our gratitude, we are offering you an exclusive one-time opportunity to save an additional amount on all of our products, valid through the end of the day tomorrow, Wednesday, August 31, 2011. You’ll save 25% off all printers, ink, HP accessories, and PCs starting at or above $US599.
We joke about HP making a push into the burgeoning printer market following its decision to shed, but this is it, people — this is what putting your printer lineup at the forefront of your company looks like. “We know you had your heart set on a cheap tablet, but how about this mutant tablet/printer abomination — with apps! For cheap!”
And it’s not just the printers-are-a-wacky-anachronism problem; it’s that HP has managed to roll a crippling fire sale of one of its products and the ensuing product shortage into a villagers-with-pitchforks frenzy that it has to sate with another fire sale. This time company-wide and on things it actually (presumably) still wants to sell. 25 per cent off of unequivocally everything that HP sells, with a minimum, not a maximum, is a pretty massive discount, even if it’s just for folks who signed up for the updates (which was a lot of us). And with more TouchPads still being produced, it seems wholly unnecessary.
It’s all going according to plan, I guess. [HP]