Best Buy *last week* introduced an Android tablet of their own and nobody noticed.
Well, engadget noticed but yawned and moved on:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/12/b...a-flex-tablet/
Since their Announcement via Facebook stirred no Apple-like frenzy, the smart folks at BB tried again, leaking a bit more info to Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...89F1L920121016
Unfortunately for them, it got lost in the shadow of MS Surface pre-order fever.
Still, I did manage to unearth a (skeptical) report at CNET with a bit of attached analysis and an actual *picture*:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57533784-94/best-buys-insignia-flex-tablet-to-get-mid-$200-price-tag/
Quote:
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The Insignia Flex, which the electronics retail giant revealed on Facebook last week, will sell for between $239 and $259 when it hits the market on November 11, according to a Reuters report. The tablet will feature a 9.7-inch screen and be powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
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Quote:
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However, the timing of this announcement is awkward at best for the struggling electronics retailer. With more than 1,400 stores, the company has been hard pressed to compete with online retailers. Already late to a party dominated by Apple and Samsung, Best Buy will also be competing with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Microsoft, and even Toys R Us -- all of which have released new tablets recently or plan to do so presently.
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The thing actually looks decent enough (not much chance of Apple suing them) and the specs they've leaked look adequate. Still unclear are a lot of crucial details like whether it is a generic Android tablet or a content fork. (Nobody noticed but BB actually owned Napster for a while and they still own Cinema Now.)
Screen resolution, RAM, storage, ports and expandability are all unknown which is probably why nobody is getting excited just yet.
With yet another 10in-class Android tablet hitting the sub-US$299 price point it is starting to look like a trend and a classic race-to-the-bottom. Somebody is going to bleed but when the dust settles we'll have a new definition of what entry-level is for low-end tablets.