Learning from Motorola’s questionable pricing point for their Xoom, Research in Motion has taken a play straight from Apple’s playbook (ha! get it?). Today, AppleInsider is reporting that not only has RIM announced a launch date (April 19th in the US and Canada) but they’ve matched the iPad 2’s pricing.
The PlayBook is expected to launch at all US Best Buy stores starting at $499, the same as a Wi-Fi only 16GB. RIM has not only match Apple’s entry point but match each of it’s Wi-Fi only prices. Clearly RIM is hoping that their “professional grade” tablet will lure potential customers with higher spec-ed dual cameras and double the RAM; but it should be noted that Apple simply doesn’t play the spec game.
All in all, the PlayBook’s aggressive pricing is needed in the flourishing tablet market and though I’m not fully convinced that a 7-inch tablet from a company I associate with my work phone can steal customers from Apple, they definitely are poised to compete in the non-iDevice market.
UPDATE: Looks like Samsung isn’t letting the Galaxy Tab series be a total bust. Their new Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be taking it to the iPad (at least in terms of pricing) as well.
Samsung rolled out price points for both the 8.9 and the 10.1, which are due this summer. The 10.1 is in line to directly compete with the iPad 2 — it’ll run at $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi-only Galaxy Tab 10.1, $599 for a 32GB version, both available on June 8.
via Appolicious
Sources: AppleInsider, Appolicious
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