PreCentral: Time, Inc. officially calls it quits on TouchPad; Time, People, SI, and Fortune to go dark

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If there's anybody close to as embarrassed as HP is by how things have gone with regards to the TouchPad, it's got to be the partners they dragged up on that stage at Think Beyond last year. One such partner was Time, Inc., with their then Chief Digital Officer Randall Rothenberg spending a good amount of time on stage talking about and demoing Time's new apps for the TouchPad.

Shortly after launch, apps for Time Magazine, People, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune all landed in the App Catalog, bringing the full magazines and a suite of interactive content plus online subscription options to TouchPad owners. Fast forward seven months and things have changed, with Time giving warning that they're pulling the plug on all four of their TouchPad apps. That means that the Time Magazine, People, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune apps are all due to go dark. The end-of-days date for these apps? March 10, less than three weeks from today.

Time plans to refund users for issues they won't be able to download, and we see no indication that Time's magazines won't be available through other channels (such as Zinio). For now the apps all work, but that won't be the case for long. We're guessing Time hasn't had the same uptake with their subscription service as other free news providers have had on the TouchPad. But that's okay, you'll still be able to use the Time app on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Bada. Wait, Bada? Really?

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