The last time that Samsung announced a new Galaxy Tab tablet, they had a special press conference, and everyone received a free tablet. If only that had been the case at CTIA Spring 2011, for I was there for the special announcement this morning. The company announced the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Tab 8.9. Even though it was supposed to be a surprised, most already knew about it. A few weeks ago, some specs leaked out on the 10.1 inch Galaxy Tab, and Samsung had this ad campaign with the numbers 7 8 9 10, an obvious clue that an 8.9 inch tablet would be sandwhiched between the 7-inch and 10-inch tablets. Samsung’s theme was about getting a “Tab Life”, and their presentation showed a lot ordinary people trying out their Tab tablets. The company stated that these new tablets are the thinnest out there at 8.6 mm. The 10.1 weighs in at a mere 595 grams, and has a battery life of about 10 hours worth of use. Samsung seemed to talk more about the 10.1 than the smalle...
Isn’t it a wonder what good marketing can do for you? That is what’s happening with the Samsung Galaxy Tab after the real story breaks cover, where the return rates of this Android-powered tablet device is far higher than that of its main rival, the Apple iPad. We’re talking about a Wall Street firm estimating that around 15% of the Galaxy Tabs sold are actually returned, which is nearly 700% higher than what the iPad is looking at (2%). Of course, this 15% rate comprises of sales from the tablet’s debut since November through January 16 this year. The culprit behind the high return rates? It could be because Samsung decided to go ahead with Android 2.2 while rushing the Tab out to the market for first mover advantage, despite Google already stating that Android 2.2 Froyo is unsuitable for tablet use, where Android 3.0 Honeycomb is a whole lot better since it was specially optimized for such use. Hopefully with the advent of Honeycomb-powered tablets, the return ra...