Originally Posted by Gizmodo

The First Good Android Tablet Has Locked Down Wi-Fi and Costs 0, Ughhhh

The Motorola Xoom sure has a lot of whizbang stuff inside: Crazy dual-core processors! Nvidia graphics! HD camcorder! 1GB RAM! Front camera! 3G that's somehow magically upgradeable to 4G! But, uh, it's eight hundred dollars. And it gets worse.

The worse being fine print in the leaked Best Buy ad that says:

Like Engadget, we can't figure out any other way to translate that besides the Xoom's Wi-Fi is locked down until you activate a data subscription with Verizon. They're requiring you to buy at least one month of data service to a basic feature of the hardware? What. The. Balls.

The pricing is horribly wrong for a couple of reasons on top of that. One, there isn't a cheaper option. While the most expensive iPad with 3G and 64GB of storage was $830, people still had the option to purchase a bunch of cheaper models, down to $500. In other words, the iPad cost as much as a netbook; the Xoom costs as much as a laptop.

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Originally Posted by Guardian

Sony unveiled its long-awaited Android tablets on Wednesday – but the price tags had analysts claiming it will struggle to compete for the No 2 spot in a market dominated by Apple.

The basic model of Sony's main tablet, shown at the IFA show in Berlin, is priced at €499 (£441), the same as the iPad – a price where Hewlett-Packard and other tablet companies have failed to dent Apple's dominance.

Sony had vowed in January that by 2012 it would become the world's No 2 tablet maker – behind Apple – and it stuck by this bold claim at IFA where its chief executive Howard Stringer introduced the devices.

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Sony has priced the devices firmly at the high end, alongside Apple. The Tablet S will go on sale in Europe from the end of September at a starting price of €479, depending on the configuration. The pocket-sized Tablet P will follow in November, starting at €599.

Sarah Rotman, at research firm Forrester, said: "Sony is no copycat … but the price raises a red flag. We've been down this road before: Motorola and HP both priced their devices on par with the iPad, and both were unable to sell their devices in volume until they lowered the price significantly."

She added: "My concern for Sony is not price competition with Apple but price competition with Amazon, whose [Android] tablet we expect to be significantly cheaper."

At least one gadget reviewer who has played with the new "Sony Tablet S" is not so sure Sony will achieve its aim of becoming the second behind Apple. "I don't think it has the premium feel, design and build quality that either the iPad 2 or [Samsung] Galaxy Tab has right now," said Tim Stevens, editor-in-chief of Engadget.

"I honestly don't think this is going to be the tablet that really catapults Sony into the lead on the Android front, which is where it needs to be if it wants to be No 2 in the tablet market."

There has been little buzz generated ahead of the release, unlike the anticipation for the iPad or even the Galaxy Tab.

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Originally Posted by Guardian

Amazon is expected to release a tablet computer before Christmas which analysts forecast will finally provide serious competition for Apple's iPad, which has had the overwhelming share of the tablet market since its launch in April 2010.

Though the company declined to comment on Tuesday, a growing number of analysts and industry watchers said Amazon, best known for its online shopping site, is preparing to push into the highly competitive tablet market to add to its dominance of the handheld ereader market through its Kindle device.

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Sarah Rotman at Forrester, speaking about the expected tablet from Amazon, said that if Jeff Bezos's company manages to set the price below $300 (£185) and launch it by October, "we see Amazon selling 3m to 5m tablets" by the end of the year and that it will "completely disrupt the status quo". However she sees Apple continuing to dominate the sector, where it has roughly three-quarters of the market. In the Christmas quarter of 2010, Apple sold 7.3m iPads.

Rotman said that "even though Amazon taking on Apple is a bit like David taking on Goliath – compare the market capitalisation, profits and cash position of the two companies – Amazon's willingness to sell hardware at a loss, combined with the strength of its brand ... makes it the only credible iPad competitor in the market".

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Analysts expect Amazon's forthcoming tablet will use Google's Android mobile operating system, which has become the dominant player in the smartphone market, pushing aside Finland's Nokia, but made little impact so far on the larger devices, partly due to a lack of content and apps.

But Amazon has been preparing its own "app market" for Android, and can offer its Kindle app on the platform, creating a potentially huge market for ebooks.

"A year from now, Amazon will be synonymous with Android on tablets, a strong second to Apple's iPad," Rotman said.

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Originally Posted by Guardian

Apple has sold more than 28m iPads since it was launched, reporting 9.2m sold in the three months from April to June in its most recent financial results.

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BlackBerry maker RIM, whose seven-inch PlayBook tablet runs its own QNX software, has seen slow sales since its launch, with just 500,000 sold in the three months to May, when it last reported its results.