I think the recent trend that most amazes me is the praise/approval some journalists are showing for this move as a tablet business strategy - moving forward!

Some of them even think this firesale is going to upset iPad sales. Um, yeah, and I have a shiny bridge you might be interested in buying. I have no doubt that HP will clear all its stock at the $99 price point, but the quantities we're talking about here are still negligible when compared to the iPad's quarterly cycle - let alone its entire lifecycle.

I've also seen speculated that Amazon is going to enter the heavy loss-leader game with a tablet, trying to emulate early-life console business. Good luck with that. Nintendo got out of that game quickly which kept them alive for the last generation. Both Sony and MS sold at a loss only while working on cost reductions, and while taking a large chunk of titles published through them. For Amazon to even think of doing this they'd likely have to restrict the device to only their store. Even then it's a different ball game.