HP Slate sales exceed production by 80% – that means it is a success … right?

The HP Slate, $ 800 tablet with Windows 7, 1.86GHz Atom processor, 64GB SSD and 2GB more RAM (more specifications in this 2MB PDF), exceeded the expectations of Hewlett-Packard staff, so the lead time for new ultraportable PC purchases has been extended to six weeks.

An absolute success for one of the first tablets of this generation running the Microsoft operating system? If what they whistled for the Engadget it is true, not so much.

HP Slate

Supposedly, HP would have ordered the production of 5,000 Slates. No, I didn't misspell: five THOUSAND (not millions, but like thousands, a 5 followed by 000). The "extraordinary demand", in this case, was 4 thousand units more, so that the company will have to produce almost twice as many gadgets as planned, while Apple sells more than 45 thousand iPads a day. And, to appease the ire of consumers who will need to wait much longer than the sales page promised, a discount of more than $ 100 must be offered. Yay, profit margins!

What about such an embarrassing situation? Being the HP Slate for the iPad what was the KIN for the iPhone? It is nonetheless ironic to remember that, at the beginning of the year, Steve Ballmer was all excited about this tablet and today not only is HP looking for greener places as he proved not to have any faith in the success of this product (assuming this history of produce 5,000 units is hot).

(via AppleInsider)