Saturday’s Rant

Earlier this week, HP shot itself in the foot by announcing a) that they were seeking ways to jettison their $40 billion per year PC business, b) immediately killing all their webOS hardware products, and c) announcing their intention to totally restructure their core business to emulate IBM and Oracle as a software and IT services firm. As one might expect (except for HP senior executives), the market rewarded this news by devaluing HP stock by over 20% in one day (see chart). Approximately $16 billion in shareholder wealth vanished overnight. Good going, HP!

So on a personal note, I am now in a dilemma. I purchased a 32Gb TouchPad in July, shortly after it’s introduction, for $600. I don’t regret the purchase per se, as the TouchPad running webOS has proven to be phenomenal in my daily routine (I plan to write about my experience with the TouchPad on my blog soon). It has been transformational for me, to say the least. But now I see that the TouchPad is going to be dumped at fire-sale prices. The Touchpad is now being offered on hpshopping.com for as little as $99! At that price, I am seriously considering buying another TouchPad for Retta. It’s a steal, which might soften the blow of having overpaid for the first one by about $500 :'(