BOM on the 16 GB TouchPad has been estimated to be $318. I don’t understand how a tablet manufacturer can sustain itself selling $318 worth of parts for $99. HP didn’t demonstrate “volume sales” or “safe sales”, they demonstrated a Fire Sale, i.e., a going out of business sale. I wonder which recent tablet we will next see being sold at a loss. The 7″ Galaxy Tab? There might be hundreds of thousands, maybe a million, sitting in warehouses. If they don’t get shipped back to Samsung to be dumped in a landfill, they’re going to be placed in the bargain bin for <$100 a pop. Probably much less, seeing how the TouchPad has set the standard for non-iPad prices. That's the biggest problem that HP is creating with this fire sale: they're creating the expectation among the public that non iPad tablets shouldn't cost more than $100 – $150.

Not sure what definition you're using for patent trolling, but I doubt it is the correct one. A patent troll is an individual or company that makes no products of its own. Apple obviously makes products. Whether or not you think patents on the whole are wrong or right, or whether Apple's patents in particular are valid, it is incorrect to call them patent trolls. You want to see a patent troll, look up Lodsys. I personally believe there are real problems with the patent system and that it needs to be fixed, but until it does get fixed, Google, Apple, Samsung, etc. are all still under the same rules so I don't feel sorry for any of them.

It doesn’t make since for a netbook to run around $200.00 – $300.00 and a few higher, and tablets to run in the average price range of laptops. I believe HP demonstraited volume sales Verses safe sales. Apple sales a high quality product for a high price which I don’t think will continue as HP has realised. I wouldn’t be surprised this one of the motivations for patent trolling of late by Jobs.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the manufacturer will get it until next year. Amazon might be the first one to get it, but even they were only willing to sell a dual core $350. And after they’ve seen the TouchPad is their most popular CE product on their site now, they might consider slashing $50, or even $100 before it even launches, so they can dominate the market in volume.

Google should realize this,too, and that they need volume to attract developers, and get out of this catch-22 problem where they don’t come because there are no sales, and customers don’t buy them because there are no apps.

This kills me. Yes, it was added to Android 3.2, but a Xoom user who is now using the EEE Pad Transformer, I have yet to find an app that actually looks better with stretch to zoom.

Stretch to zoom is an Apple problem. It’s not a problem for the number one contender, Android whose apps are already designed to run at multiple resolutions. This kind of FUD bothers me, because many people haven’t actually used these devices yet.

Where’s the playing up of the MicroSD and HDMI (and full SD and 2 USB ports with the dock) of the best Android tablet? This article tells me that people have trouble looking past the iPad, which is evolving about as fast as the iPod (not fast enough).