Early adopters have never felt this stupid.
Hewlett-Packard's
All you need now is a cool $399 to kick the funky stylings of the market's first webOS tablet. The 32-gigabyte unit is also receiving a $100 haircut to retail for $499.
Let's not confuse this with this past weekend's promotional sale across several sites and retail partners that dropped the TouchPad's price to as little as $385. That was temporary. This is the real deal. This is a permanent price cut -- well, at least until the next price cut comes around.
Why would HP do this? Why did it introduce a gutsy tablet last month at the exact same price point as Apple's
Tablet makers outside of Cupertino have been too cocky. Did Motorola Mobility
These price cuts don't make headlines because they come long after tech geeks have moved on to something else.
Remember Logitech's
The TouchPad at $399 is unlikely to make a difference now. The only upcoming tablet that has a shot at being a worthy iPad challenger will be Amazon.com's
When you do come, Amazon -- make sure you price your tablet aggressively from the start. There's no point in repeating everyone else's mistakes when you can simply learn from them instead.
Will you be buying an Amazon tablet or a $399 TouchPad? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.