Retailers price up Samsung 7in Android tablet Samsung's upcoming 7in Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab, is beginning to be priced up by retailers ahead of its anticipated arrival next month. Alas, it looks like it'll be a pricey offering. UK online retailer eXpansys, for example, is taking orders for the 16GB version - if you're willing to pay £680. That seems a lot to us, …
Why would people buy this more expensive device than the Viewsonic for example. Well, they won't will they. Samsung are going to sell a few, but unless the price comes down, not that many. They seem to be bandwagoning, and it will come back to punch them in the face.
As to the rest of your epistle, well, most Apple products are copies of other companies products, just implemented in a better way. Phones? Pretty sure they existed before the iPhone, Tablets? Pretty sure they existed before the iPad, MP3 players? Pretty sure they existed before the iPod. The only real product innovation from Apple was the original Apple home computer. (Oh, hang on, I forgot about the Commodore Pet.). They have innovated in marketing and product improvement thougyh.
People mention the Apple tax, and in some cases, there is an Apple tax.
But every rumour behind GalaxyTab pricing suggests an absolutely ridiculous price. It's exacerbated by the fact that Samsung manufacture the (smaller) screens themselves, which should reduce costs.
It doesn't matter if this tablet can do more than the iPad, because the average consumer won't care. They'll just see it's more expensive than its bigger competitor and not as shiny. And then it won't sell - total fail.
All those cheap tablets have been awful from the reviews I've seen, with slow processors, old versions of Android, resistive input and low quality screens.
The Galaxy Tab is based on a much faster processor and should be a good device. The price is obviously an issue though. It will have to be spectacular to be worth that and even then they'll have trouble selling it over the perceived "best" device in the public eye, the iPad.
iPhans have demonstrated that early adopters lose.
Be it the now crippled Version 1 that has hardware 'challenges' or those lemming-like iPhans who lined-up to buy a Lemon 4, particularly those who bought it after Consumer Reports came out condemning the failures.
Likewise with any product, never buy an early version so that the bugs can be fixed before you put your money down.
This is especially applicable to the Android OS since Version 4, due out this fall, has tablet enhancements in it.
Because you can't even get a Iphone 4 without a 3 week wait now. I guess they are so crappy that everyone wants one. Oh, maybe Apple just didn't plan well, did they? I mean, anyone can make 50,000 phones a month. And keep talking about the legendary Android "enhancements" coming soon to a Device near you. Nevermind that there is no guarantee that it will work on every device... but JUST YOU WAIT until version 5.5.5.5.5, then we will bloody show Apple how crappy they are.
Bring on the thumbs down. I have a Iphone 4 that works fine, even when I hold it "incorrectly". No dropped calls, no dropped Wi-Fi, works 99.99% of the time. Geeze, what a failure Apple is, eh?
"Alas, it looks like it'll be a pricey offering. ".
No, that doesn't just look like a pricey offering, it's a bloody slaughtering.
In any event Expansys are always expensive - no operator subsidy = no bargain price.
I am just hoping that HTC bring out a 300 Euro tablet, 7 inch, 3G and HTC Sense. Samsung's interface just looks cheap in comparison.
Samsung are looking at the retail price of the Galaxy S (£500) and have stated that it will be slightly more expensive even though play are selling a Galaxy S for £430.
So we can probably assume 'slightly' is 20% and this means that initially the price will be in the £600 range. However with the right type of tariff package, the 'up front' cost is likely to be £100-150 to the customer.
To be honest though, most phones tether now, so I can see most people wanting a wi-fi tablet, that, when they need to, can tether to their phone and those will never sell for more than £300 and even that may be a bit steep.
The point is, it's *better* than the iPad. It can compete on its merits, not on undercutting it. There are plenty of cheap Android tablets to compete based on price, I think it's nice that there's something available for people who want a better product, and don't mind paying a bit more for it.
That's a pretty large assumption on your part, unless you have **actually** used one. No, 5 minutes at a trade fair or press event doesn't count.
"I think it's nice that there's something available for people who want a better product, and don't mind paying a bit more for it." Isn't that **exactly what Apple fanboys™ claim about Apple's pricing policy? You appear to be confusing a spec sheet with qualative user experience
The trouble is that all the mobile phone manufacturers have got used to the operators subsidising the users. So they all upped their prices to truly ridiculous levels. It's all skewed to hell.
It's all going to collapse like a pack of cards eventually. Especially now consumers are being tied into 2 year contracts. The market is shrinking spectacularly and these greedy bastards wonder why.
Let's face it this thing is a glorified PMP, but call it a phone and they more than double the price. Apple does the same with the Touch and iPhone. How much can a radio cost (even with certification costs factored in)?
It does look like it has been priced to favour customers signing up to a mobile contract for a 'big discount'.
I'm not sure whether people will want yet another mobile tariff, especially as most people who would naturally go for this over an iPad will likely have a decent smartphone anyway.
That said, netbooks have done very well on some very iffy contract deals.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
