Is the H-P Touchpad good to buy at ANY price?

NerdBoyTV NOTE: When HP dropped the price of its now defunct Touchpad down to $99, many rushed out to get it. But, some don't even think it's worth it at THAT price. I found the comment below on a Yahoo! reply to a WSJ article. Thought it so eloquently stated why it WAS a terrific buy.

For those of you saying this is a waste of money @ $99...

Here is why you are wrong:

1. It is still a tablet with WiFi and a really good OS. For $99, the ability to browse, stream and essentially either increase productivity or make entertainment easier is a no-brainer. It's cheaper than any netbook or laptop you will ever get.

2. HP will stop making devices with WebOs. The likelihood of licensing to 3rd parties remains up in the air. However, the WebOS development unit from Palm still exists and will continue to provide application updates on a limited basis which is enough to support a $99 device.

3. WebOS has a die-hard base. When all of the touchpad units sell out, it will only be a reason for them to make OS and application updates...which brings me to my next point.

4. WebOS is open source. As a former WebOS owner (I'm likely switching to Android now as far as phone service is concerned), it is invaluable to have an open source platform. It allows the user to make changes at the root level, so those changes run natively. If you've heard "There's an App for that" when talking about an iPhone, that is because most functions to not run natively so they need to be initiated via an App launch.

One of the first things I did when I got my Pre Plus from Verizon almost 2 years ago was to Overclock the processor via a kernel modification available for free from a developer. It was documented meticulously and tested more than most Apps in the Apple AppStore.

The result... a 1GHZ processor (up from 500mhz) with improved battery life. Which is why I, like most WebOS fans, was able to keep an essentially outdated phone for so long and out perform most devices until the most recent releases. Not to mention that WebOS is just plain faster.

Lastly, I would like to make the point that it will be hard to kill an OS that is actually good. If WebOS was useless, featureless and contained no innovations it would die, it would never have had a following and would never have made it past Palm's lab. But the truth is, as far as mobile OS's are concerned, that it is an amazing departure from what most people using mobile OS's are used to. It's intuitive to multi-task, it actually runs applications in the background when minimized, the card stacking and management system is genius and the open source nature and ability to customize natively is unmatched.

WebOS will return in some form or another and, to say the least, is worth $99 in the Touchpad form factor.

Just my 2 cents...