Could HP's $99 Tablet be the Death Blow for Research in Motion's PlayBook?

Will Hewlett-Packard's

slashing of the price of the discontinued TouchPad to $99 be the death blow for lower-volume tablet makers and in the long-run increase Apple's dominance with the iPad? Certainly it will put tablets in the hands of possibly a million consumers who would never have purchased one for $400 or more. Estimates are that HP sold 350,000 units of their two tablet models at fire-sale prices over the weekend, after announcing they were discontinuing the TouchPad; $99 for the 16GB model, cut from $399; $149 for the 32GB model, cut from $499. The HP website and most retailers were sold out of both models within a few hours on Saturday. However, a new supply of TouchPads could be made available at any time for the frustrated buyers who missed the first round of bargains. The dumping of cheap units on the market could hurt companies like Samsung or could even be a quick death blow for Research in Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook

, which costs $499 for a 16GB model. The PlayBook was launched on April 19th. Both of those companies sell about half a million units per quarter. Less likely to be negatively impacted is Apple

, whose iPad sales have reached 9 million per quarter. And if some of the lower volume tablet manufacturers don't survive this wave of price cutting, it could give Apple even more of a hold on the market. For now, everyone loves a bargain, and a $100 tablet is one most tech buyers won't be able to pass up.