Best Buy's in-house budget tablet to undercut the iPad, Android alternatives on price
- 17 October, 2012 16:51
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Best Buy is getting ready to release a 9.7-inch Android tablet under its Insignia store brand in less than a month - and a report from Reuters indicates that the device could sell for considerably less than most other products in its size class.
MORE TABLET NEWS: iPad Mini rumor throw-down
The news agency's anonymous source said that the Insignia Flex will cost between $239 and $259. By comparison, the latest version of Android 10-inchers retail for between $300 and $500.
Of course, the low price still might not signal a particularly attractive value proposition. A Facebook post from Insignia says that the Flex will feature a dual-core 1GHz processor and run Android 4.0 - hardly the state of the art in Android tablets. As well, smaller alternatives, like the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7, have more impressive hardware at a lower price.
What's more, Apple's iPad Mini is due out just weeks before the Flex is released on Nov. 11, and leaked information could indicate that the two devices are priced similarly. It seems unlikely that the Flex will do well in a head-to-head comparison.
However, Reuters noted, this doesn't mean that Best Buy will take drastic action, like Wal-Mart and Target did. Both of those retailers banned the Kindle line from their shelves due to competition with Amazon, but Best Buy is trying to position itself as a tablet destination, according to the news agency.
Email Jon Gold at jgold@nww.com and follow him on Twitter at @NWWJonGold.
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