Tag Archives: BestBuy

tablets

Blackberry Playbook Now Available for Pre-Order at $499, Launches April 19th (Update: Now On Sale)

1 Comment

It was Apple that set the price of the iPad at a standard $499 for a 16GB WiFi only version, and now it seems to work fine for all major players in this overcrowded market. RIM was the latest manufacturer to adopt this new pricing model. The Canadian company, originally known for their Blackberry smartphones, has just announced an April 19th release date for their BlackBerry PlayBook line of tablets, both in Canada and the US. And as you might be able to understand from the above, RIM’s average sales price followed the same pattern that Cupertino had already begun to offer: $499 for the 16GB version, $599 for the 32GB model and $699 for the 64GB flavor. Canadian retailers such as Best Buy and Future Shop are also expect to sell the Playbook for around the same price, only in local currency. Full PR after the break.

Update1: And the rumor was right on spot, RIM just announced that its upcoming Playbook tablet will support both BlackBerry Java and Android apps. Great news, considering the fact this would actually include native C/C++ development support, HTML5, Flash and AIR support. Clearly a move that significantly impact the Playbook apps market. More about it after the break.

Update2: And looks like RIM’s latest and greatest dual-core Playbook device is finally up for a purchase, both in Canada and the US, while prices on Uncle Sam’s biggest electronic retailer, Best Buy, start at $500 for the 16GB model, and climb up to $600 for the 32GB model and $700 for the 64GB flavor. Tablet wars are definitely on the rise, now!

Update3: According to analysts, the Playbook sold an estimated 25,000 tablets in pre-order stage and another 20,000 in retail stores. “If correct, 45K+ sell through on the first day would be a success,” Misek wrote in his research note (Analyst Peter Misek of Jeffries & Co).

 

Continue reading Blackberry Playbook Now Available for Pre-Order at $499, Launches April 19th (Update: Now On Sale) →

tablets

Motorola Xoom Hits Best Buy on February 24th For $800, Says New Ad

3 Comments

Oh! What’s this? Looks like Best Buy is done trying to hide the one secret (actually two) that Motorola’s been keeping from us for quite a while. And when we say ‘secret’ we’re actually referring to price and availability, the two missing parts in the Motorola Xoom Android Honeycomb tablet, which were recently detailed in Best Buy’s new ad – black on yellow. So, $799 for a 10-inch android 3.0 tablet, that’s pretty expensive, isn’t it? Not to mention there’s a WiFi “lock-down” which binds to a 1 month of 3G mobile broadband data at Verizon ($20 per month for a 1GB package or $80 for the 10GB flavor). That’s one major flaw! and someone from the big M needs to intervene. As a matter of fact, there’s plenty of time to fix that crap – We are now less than two weeks, away from the official roll out, which takes place on Thursday, February 24th. C’mon guys, let’s have a little tablets competition around, shall we?

Update1: Motorola just launched the Xoom portal. Let the game begin!

Update2: Reuters is citing Motorola’s CEO, Sanjay Jha, who has just confirmed a $799 price tag  for the 32GB Honeycomb tablet, also known as the Xoom (WiFi+3G). While a WiFi-only version will run for merely $600, which is roughly equal to 32GB iPad. Is anyone surprised?

Update3: The Motorola Xoom is finally up for pre order at Best Buy, titled as “the world’s first tablet to run Android 3.0” platform on board. And the Feb. 24th release date and integrated front-facing camera for video calling makes this a perfect Valentine’s gift, don’t you think? Well, depends if you’re willing to spend $800 on your partners in exchange for a 3G-enabled 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet and some LOVE.

Update4: According to Verizon‘s web page, the Motorola Xoom that we’ are all expecting to see out on Feb 24th, won;t have flash support on launch. What? Yes, that’s exactly what the small caption down left says: “Adobe Flash expected Spring 2011.” BUMMER!!!

Update5: Motorola has just confirmed the release of its 10.1-inch Xoom sans Adobe Flash support:

“Motorola XOOM will include full support for Adobe® Flash® Player® for accessing the rich video and animations of the web, to be available after launch.”

[via Engadget]

Mobile, Phones

Google’s Nexus S Smartphone Becomes Official, Comes Out December 16th

Google has just finally, officially announced the release of the Nexus S (from Samsung), Mountain View’s next flagship smartphone that was built according to commonly accepted 2010 standards and designed to replace the company’s first-gen HTC Nexus One. So what makes it so exciting, you’re asking? Well, there’s a stunning 4-inch WVGA “contour display” inside, paired with a 5 megapixel camera, 16GB of internal storage, NFC (Near Field Communications), 512MB of RAM, a 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, and a triband HSPA with AWS support. Besides that, for $199 with a two-year contract or $529 unlocked, you get yourself a three-axis gyroscope, together with a single USB 2.0 port, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, a GPS integration, and Google’s latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread platform, already preloaded onboard – Nice! So how do you get one? Starting December 16th, the Nexus S will be available for a purchase (via T-mobile and Best Buy) by anyone who wishes to have it, either online or at one of the local retail stores. Full PR and a pair of videos right after the break.

Update: Looks like Best buy is gearing up to start selling Google’s magical smartphone, the Nexus S, throughout its US retail stores, starting this Thursday, 8AM sharp. Basically, you won’t be able to secure yourself a device (or two) in advance, which means you’ll have to think about the possibility of queuing up for a long long time – and be sure we’re gonna see long ones this time (just a hunch).

News, tablets

Samsung Galaxy Tab To Cost $399 on Contract (Update: Verizon and Sprint Plans added)

Samsung has been very elusive and secretive about its pricing plans for the Galaxy Tab, but if the following T-Mobile slide should be proven to be real, then we’re looking at a $399 done deal tablet. Of course, you’ll have to sign-up for a new 2-year contract with the US carrier in order to get into a subsidized package, otherwise it would cost you a whopping $649.99 and would probably hurt your “already-empty” pockets.

Update1: US carrier Verizon has just announced that it will begin selling the new Samsung Android Galaxy Tab for $599.99, starting November 11th. Of course, if you want “data plans” then get ready to pay more – about $20 per month for 1GB – but for those who are using standard WiFi connection, a “few hundred bucks” looks like an insane amount of money one should be paying for. Checkout the full PR release half past the break.

Update2: All right, folks, it looks like we’ve got ourselves a competition here, with a third US carrier, Sprint, to officially confirm its Samsung’s Galaxy Tab availability dates and prices, which for some “strange” reason look suspiciously similar to T-Mobile’s offer . The meaning is that Sprint is planning to charge $399 for the 7-inch Android Froyo tablet, along with a two-year compulsory contract (comprised from either a 2GB of data plan for $29.99 and a 5GB for $59.99) or $599.99 for take-and-go buyers, starting November 14th.

Update3: On the same note, rumor has it that Best Buy is going to sell a “WiFi-only” Galaxy Tab (no obligation) for $499.99 along with a black 3G model (Verizon) and a silver 3G model (Sprint) – both require either a 2 years contract or month-to-month plans.

Update4: T-Mobile just updated that the selling of the new Samsung Galaxy Tab will officially start on November 10th with prices at $399.99 on a two years contract, or $599.99 for those who’d like to buy and go. Full PR after the break.

[via TmoNews]

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Tab To Cost $399 on Contract (Update: Verizon and Sprint Plans added) →

Computers, General, News

Apple Says Over 300,000 iPads Sold On Launch Day (Update: 1,000,000 In First Month)

1 Comment

Whether you do agree with Steve Jobs saying his new tablet machine – The iPad – is “magical” and “revolutionary” or whether you don’t, one thing’s for sure, you can’t argue with numbers – and the numbers, according to Apple itself, are pretty impressive. Apparently, over 300,000 iPads were sold in the US on launch day alone, on April 3rd that is, including both retail sales (Best Buy and Apple Stores)  and pre-ordered deliveries to customers across the States – that’s 30,000 more, compared to iPhone’s 270,000 pieces that Cupertino sold (in first 30 hours). In addition, Apple says that iPad users already downloaded over a million apps from its App Store and over 250,000 e-books were downloaded as well from Apple’s iBook store during first day of launch – that’s an average of…”more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad”, says Jobs himself. Can they hold up with those numbers? Time would tell.

Meanwhile, make sure you check out our long list of Free Cool iPad Games.

Update: Now we learn that Apple has sold one million ipads over the past 28 days of existence, with 1.5 million ebooks already been downloaded, joining the 12 million apps that users have snagged. Full PR after the break.

apple-ipad-tablet-images

Continue reading Apple Says Over 300,000 iPads Sold On Launch Day (Update: 1,000,000 In First Month) →