Not quite dead? Stand-alone Hewlett-Packard PC business could resurrect the TouchPad

Fans of Hewlett-Packard’s ill-fated TouchPad tablet might want to hold off on lamenting its death.

HP’s TouchPad, which was shuttered just months after its initial debut, could return if the company spins off its personal computing division into a stand-alone company, an HP executive said Tuesday.

“Tablet computing is a segment of the market that’s relevant, absolutely,” said Executive Vice President of HP’s personal systems group Todd Bradly in an interview with Reuters.

Bradly, who expects to become chief executive of the stand-alone PC company should it be spun off, said HP could bring back the TouchPad or offer up a different tablet at a later date. He also said the company is exploring the option of licensing out the TouchPad’s operating system WebOS.

HP first released the TouchPad at a $499 price point last month to dismal sales, which prompted the company to reduced the price by $100 the following week to spur sales. Eventually, HP decided to get out of the tablet market completely and it liquidated existing stock of the devices at a low $99 price point, which sparked renewed interest. In fact, the company recently announced that it will be producing one last run of TouchPads to meet the new demand.

However, if the company does decide to resurrect its TouchPad tablets, it’s unlikely they would remain as popular without the appealingly low price tag.