Update on pricing. It looks like it will enter the market at 1200 Euros.
Although prices, availability and even the final specification of the Q1 Ultra haven’t been nailed down yet, there’s one reseller out there already prepared to take pre-orders based on a price of 1500 Euros.
The Tablet Store in Munich, Germany, an established retailer of tabletPC and ultra mobile PC products, has put up details of the Q1 Ultra WITH HSDPA and estimates availability to be somewhere around the end of May or early June. For US I would apply the usual product exchange rate of about 1:1 $1500 Recommended price sounds about right. Timescales must be similar to Europe as Samsung are planning a global launch for this product.
I’ve been in contact with The Tablet Store and am awaiting some definitive feedback on this. They haven’t come back to me with it yet but I’m expecting some better contact tomorrow (today was a holiday here in Germany)
One product that will fix the low-end of the pricing range for the Ultra is the new Q1b HSDPA which is due soon in Germany and other Euro countries at around 1300 Euros. Its a VIA-based device so the Ultra has to come in above this price and to preserve the market for the Q1b HSDPA, it has to come in at least $100 more. Unless of course the Ultra doesn’t appear until June. In that case the Q1b has a chance to sell for two months as a unique product and then drop in price. A price drop would also mean some knock-on effects with the base Q1 but there’s no reason why the base Q1 cant drop down another 20% in order to stimulate the market and generate some positive press.
Aside from the pricing issues though, the Q1B ultra is possibly the first HSDPA-capable tablet ultra mobile PC and possibly the cheapest Windows XP PC with HSDPA on-board. Actually I’m surprised none of the cellular carriers and resellers here are offering it with data contracts. Maybe that’s to come soon?
Samsung Germany also have a web page available on their German portal. Availability is estimated to be about 2 weeks. Detailed specifications and further links on our product pages.
