By: Aseem Gaurav on January 2, 2012
Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony Corp has made a wise decision to slash $100 off the price of its Tablet S, bringing the 16 GB version to $399 and the 32GB model down to $499. The move comes as the rumours of a possible launch of iPad 3 on February 24 of this year, the birthday of the company’s late co-founder, Steve Jobs, gain more ground.
The price cut will bring Sony’s Android 3.1 Honeycomb-based tablet $100 below the cost of competing iPad 2 models, which costs users $500 (16GB) and $600 (32GB). The decision follows a small $50 reduction in prices of the Sony Tablet S at the time of Christmas.
Sony's price cut also assume importance given that the competition is getting stiff in the computer tablet market and most of the players are finding it hard to compete against the iPad. A recent data from market research firm IDC suggests that Apple tablet occupies nearly 61 per cent of the market and is still considered to be highly popular among consumers. The tablet market game dominated by Apple, has now competitors — including RIM, Hewlett-Packard Co., and manufacturers such as Samsung Group Ltd. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. who had adopted Google Inc.’s Android software.
On top of the price cut, Sony is also offering (but for a limited period) a few credits, 180 days of its Music Unlimited service, and five free PlayStation Classic titles, on the purchase of a tablet.
Sony’s price cut will help the tablet gain some momentum before the iPad release date, because many buyers would tend to hold off their purchase decisions to get the latest device from the industry leader.
Tablet S features:
Cameras: 5-megapixel rear, 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front-facing
Display: 9.4-inch LED-backlit multi-touch screen (1280 x 800 pixels)
Operating system: Android Honeycomb (3.1)
Processor: Dual-core 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2
Inputs/outputs: 1 MicroUSB, 1 headphone
External storage: Full-size Secure Digital (SD) memory card, up to 32 GB in size (for media exchange only)
Internal storage: 16 GB or 32 GB
Connectivity: Wireless-N Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n); Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (with A2DP stereo audio streaming profile); IR (infrared) remote control functionality
Battery: Lithium-ion (5000 mAh)
Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.8 x 0.3 inches
Weight: 21 ounces
Read: Complete review of Tablet S and P.
Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony Corp has made a wise decision to slash $100 off the price of its Tablet S, bringing the 16 GB version to $399 and the 32GB model down to $499. The move comes as the rumours of a possible launch of iPad 3 on February 24 of this year, the birthday of the company’s late co-founder, Steve Jobs, gain more ground.
The price cut will bring Sony’s Android 3.1 Honeycomb-based tablet $100 below the cost of competing iPad 2 models, which costs users $500 (16GB) and $600 (32GB). The decision follows a small $50 reduction in prices of the Sony Tablet S at the time of Christmas.
Sony's price cut also assume importance given that the competition is getting stiff in the computer tablet market and most of the players are finding it hard to compete against the iPad. A recent data from market research firm IDC suggests that Apple tablet occupies nearly 61 per cent of the market and is still considered to be highly popular among consumers. The tablet market game dominated by Apple, has now competitors — including RIM, Hewlett-Packard Co., and manufacturers such as Samsung Group Ltd. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. who had adopted Google Inc.’s Android software.
On top of the price cut, Sony is also offering (but for a limited period) a few credits, 180 days of its Music Unlimited service, and five free PlayStation Classic titles, on the purchase of a tablet.
Sony’s price cut will help the tablet gain some momentum before the iPad release date, because many buyers would tend to hold off their purchase decisions to get the latest device from the industry leader.
Tablet S features:
Cameras: 5-megapixel rear, 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front-facing
Display: 9.4-inch LED-backlit multi-touch screen (1280 x 800 pixels)
Operating system: Android Honeycomb (3.1)
Processor: Dual-core 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2
Inputs/outputs: 1 MicroUSB, 1 headphone
External storage: Full-size Secure Digital (SD) memory card, up to 32 GB in size (for media exchange only)
Internal storage: 16 GB or 32 GB
Connectivity: Wireless-N Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n); Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (with A2DP stereo audio streaming profile); IR (infrared) remote control functionality
Battery: Lithium-ion (5000 mAh)
Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.8 x 0.3 inches
Weight: 21 ounces
Read: Complete review of Tablet S and P.
