The Galaxy Tab clearly does not conform to the usual notion that the price of an electronic good is directly proportional to its size. The Samsung Tab at 7 inches maybe smaller than the iPad, but is already hobnobbing with the iPad, as far as its price is concerned. While Galaxy Tab fans might argue the Android 2.2 tablet is more feature rich than the iPad, the sum of the tablet‘s parts costs considerably less than what Samsung is out to sell the tablet for (brought to light by research company iSuppli). Cost of components comes to around $205.22 for all the materials, with the 7 inch display and the NAND Flash memory being the single most individual expensive items, costing $57 and $51 respectively. Add to that another $9.35 that it takes to manufacture the tablet. Some simple math later, what you have in the end is quite a few hundred dollars left to cover sales and marketing costs as well as to lend weight to the profit column.
A million Galaxy Tabs by end 2010
However, Samsung remains unfazed by all these revelations and expressed confidence in their ability to sell not only 10 million Galaxy Tabs next year as previously announced, but is sure of finding a million buyers within this calendar year alone. Which means it has less than 60 days to ship a million of these tablets. The company has also dropped hints that it won’t be just the 7 inch version of the Galaxy Tab in its tablet portfolio, which will soon be expanded to include a larger 10 inch device.
Meanwhile, Samsung has gone on to announce the availability of the Galaxy Tab in a few more countries.
In Bahrain
Regarding the Bahrain chapter of the Samsung Tablet, Viva is offering the Galaxy Tab complete with free data bundle of 3GB for a period of one year as well as a three month subscription that also comes free.
“We are delighted to be the first operator in the Kingdom of Bahrain to offer this device that is tipped to take over the mobile communications world and be the latest gadget to own,” stated Viva’s Chief Commercial Officer, Andrew Hanna.
Viva is currently accepting pre-orders of the Galaxy Tab, though exact pricing or availability details are not yet available.
In Canada
Canadians will also get to have a taste of the Galaxy Tab from November 12, which is when Bell Canada will be offering the 7 inch tablet for $649.95. Bell Canada has also announced they would make available HSPA+ (something akin to 4G) for wireless connectivity, which will be in addition to the usual Wi-Fi connection. We also reported yesterday on the pricing structure on Rogers Wireless for Canadians.
However, exact pricing or availability dates has been kept under wraps.
In South Korea
The same applies to the launching of the Galaxy Tab in its home turf, South Korea, where we are yet to come across the launch dates, though what we do know is that it’s SK Telecom that has the exclusive rights to sell the Samsung Tablet.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
