A new report claims that HP is going to partner with Walmart to sell a $99 tablet, just in time for the new school year.
While HP already sells tablets that run Windows 8, the company also released a slate a few years ago and quickly killed it off. The HP TouchPad was the tablet HP inherited when it acquired Palm back in 2010. The company released the 9.7-inch webOS tablet, but the device failed to draw significant sales for the company. The tablet was priced at $499 for 16GB, the same price the iPad, which is a proven hit. Within weeks of the TouchPad's release, HP canceled all webOS devices, projects and development and lowered the price of the tablet to $99. HP is apparently gunning for the $99 route again, but this time it's with Android.
The report comes from DigiTimes and claims that the tablet will be exclusively sold through Walmart and will go on sale before children go back to school in September. The upcoming slate will become the first tablet from a major vendor to be sold at the $99 sweet spot. The purported tablet's low price also brings low-end specs with it, as expected. The new HP slate will reportedly include a 7-inch display (no word on resolution), will be powered by Intel's single-core Medfield processor, and run Android (unknown version). Those are the only specs listed in the report. Many market watchers have been forecasting that the U.S. would see a $99 tablet this year, it would then put pressure on other manufacturers to lower their prices to compete.
The tablet will cost $99, but many market watchers believe that HP will still see very small sales, due to selling the slate through a single retailer. Moreover, consumers can also choose a much better tablet in terms of specs and features by moving up to the $149 price point. Walmart also currently sells Amazon Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 tablets that will directly compete with the 7-inch HP tablet. Those devices are a little more expensive, but offer far more than the rumored HP 7-incher heading to Walmart.
