I do not understand the thinking behind this. It makes absolutely no sense to me. $849.00 for a Android Dual Core tablet? $149.00 subsidy from AT&T? What were they thinking?! I realize that these decisions were made long before the HP TouchPad firesale started, but don’t you think someone should have said “wait a second, we should look at this again” and postpone the launch?
The HTC Jetstream is no low end tablet, but it is nothing unique. 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, an 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, 10.1-inch display, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. In today’s world, the majority of tablets (including this one) is a add-on device. Why are they charging the price of a low to mid-range laptop? At this price point I can almost buy a Lenovo Thinkpad and a lower end Android Tablet.
The other piece that is puzzling to me is why is AT&T only offering a $149.00 discount for a 2 year contract? Who would sign up for that deal? With Sprint’s recently announced ETF Change is this a new pattern? Low subsidies and high ETF’s? Lets hope not.
Hopefully this is just a case of “too late to change” and doesn’t show a trend to things to come from HTC. If it does, I don’t see the once great smart device manufacturer continuing on with their legacy.