Wednesday, Dec. 07, 2011
Hewlett-Packard Discontinues TouchPad Tablet, Then Fires the CEO Who Pulled It
Hewlett-Packard may have the record for producing the shortest-lived consumer device. In June, HP began selling its much-ballyhooed TouchPad tablet, which was supposed to give Apple's iPad a run for its money. Six weeks later the TouchPad was gone, pulled by HP because of poor sales. In fact, HP announced it was exiting the tablet business altogether. The TouchPad disappointment may have cut short the job prospects of the company's CEO as well. In September, HP fired CEO Leo Apotheker and replaced him with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who then reversed HP's tablet withdrawal.