Suppliers Pushing Down Tablet Prices

By Doug Olenick and Joseph Palenchar On Aug 22 2011 - 4:01am

NEW YORK – Pricing and products dominated recent developments in the tablet market.

More tablets turned up at prices of $299 and less, with Vizio shipping its previously announced 8-inch Wi-Fi Android tablet at a suggested $329 and an everyday $299.

For its part, digital-photoframe and e-reader supplier Pandigital launched three new Android tablets at suggested retails ranging from $159 to $189.

Hewlett-Packard also cut its pricing. It made permanent a $100 price reduction on its TouchPads, with the TouchPad 16GB Wi-Fi model now retailing for $399 while the 32GB version retails for $499.

Acer also expanded its selection.

Here are the details:

Acer: The Iconia tablet PC line expanded with the addition of a 7-inch model, the Wi-Fi-only Iconia Tab A100. It is the first 7-inch model in Acer’s line and runs the Android 3.2 operating system.

The 16GB version has a $349 suggested retail, while the 8GB model comes in at $329.

The A100 uses an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core 1GHz processor with 1GB of memory, features 720p video playback, and plays video for more than four hours. It also features MicroSD and MicroUSB ports.

The A100 is shipping in the United States and will hit Canada next month.

Hewlett-Packard: The decision to make permanent a $100 price cut was made after a $100-off instant-savings promotion proved so successful, the company said.

At the same time, the company pushed out the first major update for WebOS 3.0.

Pandigital: Early in the year, the company provided a firmware update to turn its 7-inch Pandigital Novel line of color-screen products into combination Android tablets/e-readers.

Now the company has released three Android-based Nova tablets. The Pandigital Star and Planet run on the Android 2.2 OS, and the Nova runs on Android 2.3.

The Star retails for a suggested $159, while the Planet and Nova carry a $189 suggested price.

A fourth unit, which will be the line’s flagship, will be released in September.

All three Wi-Fi tablets have a 7-inch display and Arm Cortex 9 processors with embedded hardware 3D graphics. The Planet and Nova displays are 600 by 800, while the Star features 800 by 480 resolution. Integrated memory is 2GB for the Planet and Star and 4GB for the Nova. A MicroSD slot accepts 32GB cards. They also feature MiniUSB port and HDMI output.

The tablets weigh about 14 ounces and are 5 inches wide, 7.5 inches high and 0.5 inch thick. The company is reporting six hours of battery life.

Viewsonic: Limited shipments of its nextgeneration dual-OS tablet, which uses both the Windows 7 and Android 2.3 operating systems, the 10.1-inch ViewPad10pro. It is designed for business users.

Shipping in higher quantities later this month, it is available in two configurations. One features Windows 7 Professional, Android 2.3 and 32GB solid-state hard drive at an estimated everyday price of $699. The version with Windows 7 Home Premium, Android 2.3, and 16GB solid-state hard drive retails for an everyday $599. A custom docking station accessory is $59.

Vizio: The 1GHz Vizio Tablet became available at Sam’s Club, Walmart, Costco, Amazon and other retailers initially at online prices ranging from $289.87 at Sam’s to $298 from Amazon and Walmart.

It is equipped with Android 2.3 OS, access to the Android Market and IR blaster to double as a universal IR remote, a 8-inch 1,024 by 768 capacitive touchscreen, built-in GPS, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity, HD video playback and front-facing camera.

For video playback, the tablet features Micro- HDMI output, HDMI mirroring and High-Definition Copy Protection compliance to stream copy-protected video to a TV.