TouchPad dead but not buried

Two weeks after its surprise discontinuation, there may be life in the TouchPad yet.

Mark Bludgell, HP’s PR manager for social media strategy, has posted a blog informing customers that the company will produce one last run of TouchPads ‘to meet unfulfilled demand’.

"We don’t know exactly when these units will be available or how many we’ll get,” Bludgell says, "and we can’t promise we’ll have enough for everyone.”

In the days following the discontinuation, HP sold off its TouchPads around the world at heavily discounted prices, prompting substantial interest from consumers.

The device had only been launched in New Zealand in the previous month.

Meanwhile, Tood Bradley, head of HP’s PC division, Personal Systems Group (PSG), has told Reuters that tablet computing remains a relevant market, and he expects the company to be making tablets in the future.

At the same time as it discontinued the TouchPad, HP announced it would look to separate or sell PSG. Bradley says he intends to lead any standalone company created, and that that company will make a full range of computers, from PCs to ultra-thin notebooks and tablets.