Stephen Dewitt, Senior VP & GM for HP webOS Global Business Unit, has written a letter to all HP employees in the U.S., announcing that the company will have the $99 and $149 HP TouchPad tablets back in stock and available at the company’s EPP (Employee Purchase Program) on September 28th at exactly 9:00 a.m. PDT.

HP’s employee-only store, or EPP, gives special employee discounts on all HP products via a dedicated website and a 1-800 phone number. Although the EPP store sells only on an employee-only basis, when the “fire sale” was announced after HP canceled the TouchPad and allowed retailers to sell them on clearance for the same price employees are now going to pay, existing stocks for employees were quickly drained due to the store being beset by eager HP TouchPad buyers.

Dewitt outlines five new rules devised by HP for the upcoming HP TouchPad employee sale. The tablets will only be available via the EPP website only, Dewitt stated, and no exchanges will be accepted on the TouchPads bought in the EPP store. There will be a maximum wait time of 10 days for order approvals and shipment, also, with a strict one TouchPad per person rule in force. Any order for more than one of the tablets will be completely canceled. The 16GB model will sell for $99, and the 32GB model will sell for $149.

HP’s venture into “tabletland” in an effort to compete for market share with the iPad was a resounding failure, so it’s nice to hear something good is in the works for the company’s employees, who quite possibly have been a bit traumatized and demoralized by recent events.

Many have been waiting in hope HP would release another batch of TouchPads, but going by recent negative reports from people who had registered to be notified, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. However, there’s still the chance you might get a shot at one by keeping a weather eye on Best Buy, , and possibly HP’s website, especially the days leading up to and directly following the 28th. If you do get lucky and find one, it’ll be hard to pass up such a great deal.

 

(Via: TechCrunch)