HP's TouchPad tablet has generated more excitement, and more sales, in the past week than it ever did since it was first announced. The webOS-based device has now been canceled by HP due to poor sales and reviews. However, the remaining stock of TouchPads are being sold off at rock bottom prices (if you can find one that is). But a funny thing happened on the way. According to Engadget, at least two people who bought new TouchPads have found that the tablets are not running webOS but rather Google's Android 2.2.
One of the people who claims to have found this rather weird combo says that he bought the TouchPad at a Best Buy store and is currently selling the TouchPad (32 GB) on eBay. One of Engadget's comment posters also claims to have come into possession of a HP TouchPad with a similar set up. The article says that a Qualcomm Innovation Center (Quic) logo briefly pops up on the Android TouchPad which may mean this version of the device was some kind of development platform that, for whatever reason, found its way to the shelves of Best Buy. For its part, Qualcomm has not yet commented on this rather odd development.
Earlier this week the HacknMod.com web site offered anyone a $1,500 bounty to hack a TouchPad and make it run fully as an Android-based device. The person who is selling his TouchPad on eBay has already written that his off-the-shelf TouchPad could be entered into the HacknMod.com bounty.
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