How many users are we talking about? HP hasn't broken out sales figures but admitted it "wasn't close to hitting its targets" -- which were, analysts say, 3 million to 5 million tablets by year's end. We know Best Buy sold 25,000 (less than 10% of its inventory), and HP was forced to slash the price by $100.
Even supposing the company has sold 100,000 TouchPads worldwide so far -- a generous estimate -- that would be an incredibly small number for a device that was launched with a massive advertising campaign from a major manufacturer six weeks ago.
Compare that to the TouchPad's obvious competitor: 1 million iPads were sold in the first 28 days, and 2 million in the first two months. Now there are about 9 million iPads sold every quarter.
It isn't just that the TouchPad is a flawed tablet, although clearly it is, or that launching a new tablet is an incredibly costly activity (HP's webOS division spent $336 million last quarter, most of that on the TouchPad launch).
It's that the iPad is sucking all the oxygen out of the room.
A survey released Wednesday by equity firm Robert W. Baird, reported by CNET, asked more than 1,100 potential tablet purchasers what devices they were interested in. An overwhelming 94.5% said the iPad. Ironically, the TouchPad was in second place at 10.3%.
So by one measure, at least, the iPad just killed off its biggest competitor. Who's next? It could be RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook, which suffered its own sales setback earlier this month when Sprint announced it would not be selling its planned 4G version of the device. Perhaps Samsung's ongoing legal battle with Apple, which recently barred the Galaxy Tab from being sold in Europe and delayed its launch in Australia, will lead the Korean manufacturer to focus on more profitable electronics.