Walmart Gives HP TouchPad a Price of $599

Tablets are still, perhaps, not as widely available as some might like, but at least one model is on track to really start shipping, although only hearsay exists about pricing so far.

The HP TouchPad is only one of the many ARM-powered media tablets that have or will grace the IT market.

In fact, with the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer so hard to find, whether it is because of too high demand or component shortages, other tablets are under more scrutiny than they otherwise would be.

Unfortunately, even though the HP TouchPad is no mystery as far as its hardware goes, availability and pricing have been rather elusive.

Granted, some hints exist, like the BestBuy listing we covered here, which, at the very least, implies that the waiting game won't be dragged on for much longer.

The general expectation is for sales to commence in June, 2011, meaning that Computex, or the period immediately after that, is the allotted time.

The newest piece of information in regards to this slate doesn't do much to shed clarity on time of arrival, but the price is, at least hinted at.

While in no way a certainty, it is Walmart that has provided a figure which might seem a bit steep to some, especially knowing what happened to other Android tablets so far.

Basically, Android slates aren't selling well against the Apple iPad because of their prices, among other things.

This most recent report seems to suggest HP's TouchPad may or may not be free of this drawback, since it supposedly goes for $599 (this being the version with 32 GB of storage) or more, with some accessories.

Users will have to part with an extra $30 for a spare AC adapter, plus $70 for the official Bluetooth keyboard. Finally, the Touchstone Dock will demand an extra $50.