HP has cut the price of its entry-level TouchPad tablet from $499 to $399. The news comes on the heels of a weekend promotion knocked $100 off the original price.

[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]Stephen DiFranco, HP senior vice president, said in a statement that HP was “pleased with customer response” from a $100 instant-savings promotion enough that it decided to implement the $100 price cut.

The HP TouchPad 16GB Wi-Fi model is now $399.99, while the 32GB TouchPad with Wi-Fi is now $499.99. That puts the device at a competitive price advantage over the iPad, which starts at $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi configuration.

Whether HP can move TouchPads long-term is another issue, however. The device has been plagued by performance problems, but DiFranco notes the recent over-the-air (OTA) release of webOS 3.0 – the operating system that makes the TouchPad work – “is the first of what will be a steady stream of improvements” to TouchPad performance and capabilities.