On Wednesday, Verizon Wireless and Samsung resolved the mystery over Galaxy Tab pricing. Samsung’s iPad-killer will debut on Verizon Nov. 11 with a $599.99 price tag. that would make it about the same price as the Wi-Fi version of the iPad that debuts on Verizon on Friday.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab will compete with Apple by offering consumers an Android alternative. The Tab runs Android 2.2 and has a seven-inch touchscreen, an HTML browsing experience that supports Adobe Flash, and a one-gigahertz Cortex A8 Hummingbird Application processor.
By contrast, the iPad doesn’t offer Adobe Flash, but does offer the world’s largest app store. Samsung will try to beef up its Tab capabilities through Verizon’s V CAST Music, Kindle for Android, Blockbuster On Demand, and other apps in its mobile storefront.
The Tablet Battle Begins
“There are those who aren’t going to walk down the Apple-controls-the-universe road,” said Michael Disabato, managing vice president of Gartner’s Network and Telecom division. “What it comes down to is it’s going to be a personal decision. Why do people not have an iPhone if it is so cool? They either don’t afford one, or they don’t see the need for one, or they are just livid about being walled-garden into AT&T.”
He said there could be price wars on the Verizon network as Apple and Android battle for customers. For $629.99, Verizon will sell the iPad Wi-Fi 16GB with MiFi. The iPad Wi-Fi 32GB with MiFi will sell for $729, and the iPad Wi-Fi 64GB with MiFi will sell for $829. That may change when Research In Motion’s PlayBook comes to market.
Verizon is offering a monthly access plan to iPad customers of up to 1GB of data for $20 a month. In addition, Verizon will also offer all three iPad Wi-Fi models on a stand-alone basis. Customers also can add…