14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung's Galaxy Tab Android 2.2-based tablet was announced officially to the world on Thursday, with no info on its exact availability and pricing being unveiled for the time being.
It seems that South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung would plan on having the Galaxy Tab available for purchase via wireless services providers, this being the main reason for which it did not announced a specific release date or pricing for the device.
While wireless carrier Vodafone said that it would have the new slate available for its customers starting with October, it still remains to be seen how much would the operator ask for it, as well as when it would start shipping it.
However, the Android-based tablet PC already emerged at various retailers, being priced across Europe somewhere between €699 (around $895) to €799 (about $1,025), for the 16GB and 32GB models, respectively.
In all fairness, it is quite usual for retailers to list devices on their websites prior to their availability date at prices higher than the official ones, and the final costs for the tablet might be different than these ones.
Not to mention that these would be the full-retail price tags the Samsung Galaxy Tab would sport when released on shelves.
Moreover, since Samsung aims at having the slate available via wireless carriers, we should see it put on sale at subsidized prices, though with the signing of contract agreements included into the equation.
According to the handset vendor, the price tags we see around the Internet are not mere speculation for the time being, though a recent article on Phandroid notes that the suggested retail pricing in Sweden tends to prove otherwise. Samsung Galaxy Tab is said to be valued at SEK 9,000 on that market, or $1,240, with value added tax of 20 percent included.
As for the launch date of the device, we might see it shipping starting with October 11th, at least this is what online retailer Expansys notes on its website.