The acquisition of Palm, and consequently, webOS, proved to be a billion-dollar mistake by Hewlett-Packard. Its subsequent decision to wind down webOS would cost the company an additional $1.66 billion. But... the company surprisingly got an unlikely title out of the mess. It's been crowned as the No. 2 tablet maker, selling the most tablets in the U.S. after heavyweight Apple, according market research company NPD. HP did not outwit everyone else with a superior product or marketing. It did so by failing--so badly that the company decided to discontinue the product in just 48 days and put it on a $99 fire sale. With the new price, a staggering $400 off the initial price of $499, the TouchPad began flying off the shelves nationwide and made a case for itself by occupying 17 percent of the non-iPad tablet market share. That is just slightly higher than Samsung's 16 percent, but considering the popularity of the Korean company's tablets among Android fans, even 1 percent is significant. But without a clear plan for its tablet strategy, HP is expected to lose the title in coming months.