$99 HP TouchPad Officially Out of Stock; webOS Officially Dead [Want to Buy a $99 TouchPad? HP Says It's Officially Out of Stock]

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It was good while it lasted. The $99 fire sale that made the HP TouchPad so popular is officially finished, as HP announces it is already out of stock.

HP has announced that the company is officially out of TouchPad stock, and that users will have to check with retailers who may still have stock for sale.

As you signed up for updates on the HP TouchPad, we wanted you to know that we are officially out of stock. Some retailers will have some stock available, but our online inventory is depleted.

As of writing, the only other retailer where HP TouchPads may still be available is Best Buy, which offers the 32GB TouchPad for its fire sale price of $149, but this requires a purchase of a Compaq laptop, desktop or all-in-one computer.

Sources cited by DigiTimes say that device manufacturer Inventec is laying off more than 400 workers starting this week, as it will no longer be producing HP TouchPads. Inventec no longer expects additional orders for HP’s tablet computers. An Inventec spokesperson has confirmed that it is scaling down its tablet PC department, although the company has not disclosed the number of staff to be laid off.

HP to Keep PC Business, but will Shut Down webOS

Meanwhile, HP has also announced that it has reversed its decision to spin off or shut down its PC business, new HP President and CEO Meg Whitman says that the company has “objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off [Personal Systems Group],” and has decided that “keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees.”

However, the same does not hold for webOS. Despite efforts to find a licensee or buyer, HP was unable to find interested parties. Sources from within HP say that webOS employees are likely to get laid off. With HP opting to retain its PC business, but ceasing development on its tablet-bound operating system, this leaves opportunities open for HP to build on the upcoming Windows 8 platform, which they are currently testing on their tablet computers.

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