AT&T and Samsung today announced AT&T plans to offer the new Samsung Galaxy Tab in time for Christmas.
MacDailyNews Take: So if your kid deserves a lump of coal, you’ll have another option this year besides a Zune.
According to AppleInsider, “Samsung’s Android-powered Galaxy Tab will be coming to all four major U.S. wireless carriers.”
The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a 7-inch TFT touch creen, runs Android 2.2 on a 1Ghz Hummingbird processor, offers “Media Hub” – Samsung’s own content service that offers an movies and TV programming along with “Samsung Social Hub,” and dual cameras for video calling.
AT&T will sell the Galaxy Tab in its company owned retail stores and online in the coming months with other distribution partners to be announced at launch. Pricing for the tablet and AT&T data plan options will also be announced closer to the launch date.
“We’re looking forward to expanding our computing device portfolio and giving our AT&T customers more great choices with this innovative device,” said Glenn Lurie, president of AT&T’s emerging devices, in the press release. “By teaming with Samsung Mobile to deliver the Samsung Galaxy Tab, we’re equipping our customers with new and exciting ways to connect to the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network.”
In addition to the numerous Samsung Mobile driven features, the AT&T-powered Samsung Galaxy Tab will also feature AT&T Connection Manager, which automatically connects users to AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots to better manage data usage. AT&T customers will also have access to the entire AT&T national Wi-Fi network.
Electronista reports, “Samsung’s Galaxy Tab will be priced at significantly higher than its main competitor, Apple’s iPad. The Galaxy Tab has shown up in an Amazon UK posting, revealing its price to be £680 with VAT, or about $1,063.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If that price is anywhere close to being right, for that reason alone and even if heavily subsidized, this fake iPad is DOA, even without being hit with a very well-deserved Apple Trade Dress Infringement lawsuit (at the very least).
Android. Never do with one button that which you can do with four.™
really!?
And this is based on a FREE OS?
Jokia is already reserved for Nokia.
Cue Ballmer: A thousand dollars! Fully subsidized! That’s the most expensive tablet in the world, and it’s got no keyboard, which makes it not a good business tablet.
I like our strategy, I like our strategy alot…
In this case, he’d be right, a $1000 SamTab would be DOA.
Galaxy?
Queue space jokes…
I would like that lump of coal, please. Tightly packed plant fossils with high energy value are infinitely more interesting than that lousy knockoff.
The pricing is a strategy call. This way the competition doesn’t have to worry, then at the last minute before Christmas, they announce a huge price cut – or a rebate, or something. Competition will be caught unawares.
Oh, by the way, Samsung. In order for this to work, you have to have something that someone wants to buy!
Copying the iPads form factor and adding three buttons and a camera is not innovation, and does not make this an “innovative device.”
Expensive
Chankla
Retahd
There will be a less expensive wifi only version as well.
Apple needs to make a iPad Junior and a larger flatter iPhone to the dimensions to fit into a typical suit pocket.
It would be the executive rage device to have, drop the corny consumer UI though. Qwack.
Swing Geezer:
What competition???
Well, cheapest 3G iPad is £529 (16GB). That would require a solid £150 subsidy in order to match an unsubsidised price for the iPad. I don’t know what kind of data plans are offered in the UK with or without subsidy, but I’m sure they aren’t the same, and a plan without a subsidy will be cheaper than those with a subsidy (like AT&T’s $25 plan in the US, vs. $60 for subsidised 3G USB dongle devices).
There are plenty of major reasons why this Samsung device has little chance against the iPad. The pricing is just one of them.
So if I hold it horizontally, how do I keep from accidentally hitting those buttons along the bottom?
Won’t apps that are made for 3.5-4 inch screens look fugly and pixellated on this thing? Are developers lining up to make versions of their apps for this screen size?
Do I hear a
“Buy one, Get one Free!”
promo in the background? AT&T loves selling two service contracts at once.
What really gets me is how shamelessly everybody copies Apple while shouting “Look how innovative we are!” Pathetic.
So does it seem like AT&T just doesn’t care about thier biggest phone maker who practically made them as big as they are… It just doesn’t seem like they support apple at all….
Chase,
AT&T doesn’t have a choice. They have customers asking for the iPhone, and for months now, AT&T doesn’t have nearly enough to sell. So, they have to sell other stuff. That is the only reason AT&T is selling as many Android devices as they are today.
What’s the UK price for the 3G iPad? I wouldn’t be surprised it it is close to the same price, given how Apple generally rips off anyone buying in non-US currency.
Doomed to FAIL.
I’ve noticed that all Android-based iPad “competitors” top out at around 7 inches for the screen. I think that is because Android (in its current form) is designed for smaller devices and can’t be upscaled adequately for devices with higher screen resolution. All these Android “tablets” are just smart phones with oversized screens.
So you have Windows 7, which is too bloated to be downscaled to run tablets efficiently, OR Android 2.2 (and below), which is a PDA-class OS that can’t be scaled up effectively beyond a 7-inch screen. The choices for Apple’s lazy (let’s rely on Google or Microsoft) competition are not promising.
“giving our AT&T customers more great choices with this innovative device” that was squarely aimed at morons on this site and in real life who lack critical thinking skills and demand phrases like that – instead of really innovative products. Often the people who use words like ‘innovative’ and ‘competition’ don’t actually have a firm grasp on what qualifies as such easily losing their own argument. If someone really wants innovation and competition – they must call out those that aren’t – to clear the playing field – instead of using their imagination full of wishful thinking.
D.O.A
Correct me if I am wrong. When Apple announces a product, with fancy launch, they also announce the price, right?
Critic:
I’ve mentioned UK pricing for iPads earlier. So, it is:
Galaxy: £680
iPad 3G: £529
$500 for a USB port?
SOLD!