Sony can finally add tablets to the laundry list of consumer electronics categories it addresses, but the launch of its premier device — the Sony Tablet S — is raising questions as to how seriously Sony plans to take the tablet space. The 9.4-inch Honeycomb tablet features a Sony “TruBlack” display, a dual-core Tegra 2 processor and the ability to control Sony televisions, Blu-ray players and other peripherals with a custom universal remote app, but we’re not sure Sony has its sales strategy ironed out just yet. Read on for more.
Sony’s Tablet S is now available for sale here in the United States. Not from Sony, and not from any standard electronics retailers like Best Buy or Amazon, but instead from the Home Shopping Network. Yes, in between piles of bedazzled jeans and self tanner sits a stack over overpriced Sony tablets — HSN is charging $599.95, or four easy payments of $149.98, for Sony’s $499 16GB tablet — and the late-night champion of TV-driven retail is already shipping the device. Meanwhile, Sony’s online store is still taking pre-orders and Amazon says the slate will launch on September 16th.
We’re not sure if the HSN crowd is the right audience for a device like a Honeycomb tablet, but maybe Sony is onto something here. Other tablet vendors to date reportedly haven’t been finding much success by attacking the obvious demographics with their Android tablets, so perhaps companies will have better luck with retirees.
