The high price may come down over the weeks leading to the Christmas shopping season.
In a press release today, Samsung announced that its seven-inch Galaxy Tab would arrive at Verizon (VZ) stores on November 11, just a few weeks after Verizon will offer Apple’s (AAPL) iPad.
The $599 price point seems a little high for me but, as is often the case with most mobile devices, prices plummet almost immediately after launch. Verizon is also offering 1GB data plans for $20 a month. That might be a good price if 3G hot-spotting is available.
The Galaxy Tab will run Google’s (GOOG) Android 2.2 and have both front and rear-facing cameras as well as the ability to play Flash from the Web, differentiating itself from the iPad. Samsung also touts the tablet’s ability to be held in one hand on the go and its light (half the weight of the iPad) weight. With the Verizon announcement, I expect that the other three U.S. mobile carriers that have agreed to carry the device will have announcements coming shortly.
Verizon is also going to load up the Tab with their own applications and some third party exclusives:
Popular mobile applications, including V CAST Music and V CAST Song ID, VZ Navigator®, Slacker Radio, Kindle for Android, BLOCKBUSTER On Demand®presented by V CAST Video, and the exclusive golf game, “Let’s Golf,” will be available on the Samsung Galaxy Tab. In addition to text, picture and video messaging, the Samsung Galaxy Tab will also feature V CAST Apps, Verizon Wireless’ mobile storefront offering hundreds of applications for businesses and consumers at launch.
It will be interesting to see if this form factor catches on after Apple CEO Steve Jobs called seven inch tablets Dead on Arrival.
