Sony, Amazon, Apple, others in mobile tablet price war

New Mexico Business Weekly

Date: Tuesday, January 3, 2012, 8:27am MST

BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet

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Many of the major technology companies are lowering prices for their mobile tablets in what appears to be a new trend that could be good news for consumers, according to reports.
Technology news website CNET.com reports that Sony (NYSE: SNE) is cutting prices on its popular S series mobile tablets by $100 per model, with the 16GB Tablet S now priced at $400 and the 32GB model reduced to $500.
The price cuts come after Amazon.com Inc.    's (NYSE: AMZN) Kindle Fire found sales success at $199. The Kindle Fire has been the first tablet to show promise at competing with Apple Inc.    's (NASDAQ: AAPL) massively popular iPad tablets and has even sparked rumors that Apple is considering a new, lower priced iPad in January. Barnes & Noble    (NYSE: BKS) also has a new tablet for $249.
The success of the Kindle Fire has been highly touted as a top contender against the iPad after poor sales prompted some of the highest-profile new tablets to date to be scrapped or cut back.
Hewlett-Packard Co    . (NYSE: HPQ) phased out its TouchPad after poor sales this past summer, and Dell Inc.    (NYSE: DELL) said last month that it is dumping the Streak tablet it made using Android. Analysts say it will be difficult for others to be profitable without the apps and retail tie-ins that Amazon has with the Kindle Fire and Apple has with the iPad.
CNET reported that Research in Motion Ltd.'s (NYSE: RIMM) Blackberry Playbook has seen the steepest price cuts and now sells for $300 less than its launch price.
Competition also may be heating up with reports Google Inc.    (NYSE: GOOG) plans to launch its own tablet in the next six months using its own Android operating system, and that could further push prices lower for tablets. Microsoft Corp.    (NYSE: MSFT) also is reported to have big plans for its Windows 7 mobile tablets.
In an August 2011 report, Men's Health    magazine gave Albuquerque a "C-" grade for its efforts in "embracing the tablet,", which was measured by ad impressions; the number of Apple and Best Buy    stores per capita, and the percentage of households with ownership of tablets, laptops or notebook computers.
Albuquerque has one full-service Apple store at the ABQ Uptown development. There are two Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) locations in the Duke City.

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