Early last week Indonesia became the first country in Asia (possibly the world) to start selling the Honeycomb tablet that a lot of people are waiting for — the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The introduction of Samsung’s latest tablet received tremendous response in the republic when it sold out in just seven hours.
Oddly enough after a strong lead-up to the launch of the device in Indonesia, only 1,200 units were available for purchase on day one. The rapid sale of the device was also spurred on by hefty introductory discounts offered by Samsung in conjunction with the launch.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 retails for Rp.6 million (or about RM2,110 at today’s rates) but was sold at Rp.4 million (about RM1,400) on the first day. In addition to that, the price of the first 200 units sold on launch day was reduced by another Rp.200,000 (about RM70).
News reports mentioned that approximately 4,000 customers waited in line, some overnight, to be amongst the first in Indonesia to purchase the Galaxy Tab 10.1.
For Samsung, the initial launch of a major product — in this case, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 — outside of the US and Korea is unprecedented. In Malaysia, we have word that the device will be officially launched towards the end of July. Though we have no information on local pricing, the Indonesian price could be a very good indicator to how much the device will sell here.
While the Galaxy Tab 10.1 may not be the first Honeycomb tablet to hit the local market, it is certainly the most anticipated. Even with the Motorola Xoom and the very competitively priced Asus Eee Pad Transformer both already selling here, many, based on the comments we’re been getting, are still holding onto their cash for the Samsung tablet.
[source 1, 2, 3]
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