HP drops price of Slate 7 Android tablet by $30, now starting at $139.99

Summary: The company's latest attempt to storm the tablet market has already been discounted. Is it doomed like its predecessors?

Companies can spin it any way they like, but discounting a new product -- whether as a limited time offer or a permanent price drop -- is never a good sign. Such would appear to be the case for HP, which has already dropped the price on its much-ballyhooed Slate 7 Android tablet, released in April, by $30.

When the company announced the Slate 7, its low starting price of $169.99 was one of its main selling points in the fiercely competitive tablet market. So the fact that HP has recently and quietly lowered the cost to $139.99 suggests that even that budget price was too high to muster sufficient sales. The $30 discount also applies to the pricier configurations with 16GB of capacity and optional red color choice.

Reviews for the Slate 7 have been middling at best, which may have blunted demand. For instance, our sister site CNET found that the tablet suffers from mediocre hardware, including a 1,024x600 resolution screen and lackluster cameras, and the lack of a gyroscope.

What do you make of HP's decision to lower the price of the Slate 7? Does it make you more likely to buy one? Or does it mean that it's one step closer to the dustbin, joining the company's other tablet failures like the Slate 500 and TouchPad?

[Via TabTimes]