HTC Puccini gets official as Jetstream, costs $700 on contract

[Jos]

The long-rumored HTC Puccini finally has an official name and launch date: AT&T's first LTE tablet will be known as the HTC Jetstream and will be landing in stores on September 4. But while most manufacturers are struggling to find the sweet spot in tablet pricing and generate the level of interest that the iPad has, HTC and AT&T have gone ahead a slapped a $700 sticker plus a two-year contract to their latest device.

By comparison, a 3G enabled iPad 2 with the same 16GB of internal storage sells for $630. Sure, that extra $70 gets you LTE connectivity, but it also ties you to a monthly fee of $35 for the next 24 months -- another $840 over time. That may be too much to swallow for many users, especially with cheaper Android tablets starting to hit the market.

In terms of hardware the Jetstream features a 10.1-inch WXGA HD touch screen display, Qualcomm's dual-core 1.5GHz processor, an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera with dual-LED flash and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera. The tablet runs on Android 3.1 Honeycomb with HTC's Sense skin on top and can be used with the included HTC Scribe digital pen. The stylus is free for a limited time, mind you, so you better act fast! (it was an $80 add-on for the HTC Flyer).

The HTC Jetstream is a pretty powerful tablet sentenced to death from day one by a pretty ridiculous price tag. It seems like HTC learned absolutely nothing from the Xoom's failure earlier this year. Even if 4G connectivity is a must, Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 also has an LTE model on Verizon priced at a more reasonable $529 on contract.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/45322-htc-puccini-gets-official-as-jetstream-costs-700-on-contract.html

 

[aj_the_kidd]

The $700 price tag will all but seal its chances of being competitive (in terms of sales) with the iPad2

 

[Guest]

After the TouchPad storm and the Irene hurricane, no tablet will have real success if it sells for more than $299. Regardless LTE or 3G. They should invent something else. Now its the time of wearable computing. Back to board, gentlemen.

 

[Guest]

Good luck selling more than 5-20k all I can say lol.

 

[Archean]

They are 'a little too positive' about their sales predictions aren't they?

 

[lawfer]

Archean said:
They are 'a little too positive' about their sales predictions aren't they?

I know right. Sometimes I find myself just puzzled at how little they know. They really believe they are going to sell these things, when the iPad 2 and the Transformer offer a superior value.

Well, then again, we think like consumers, what would they know?

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

700+ LOL Good luck selling any

 

[Burty117]

Wait a minute, the OS is free and it costs more than the iPad? So Apple is able to create the OS and design the Hardware yet HTC can only design the Hardware but charge... More for it?! What is going on with the minds in the people who have the job of pricing these?!

 

[negroplasty]

hahahaha only in the USA would they try this subsidizing crap, how much without a contract? $1,470? anyone who signs a contract for two years for this thing is a complete nutcase... I wouldn't even pay 700 without!

 

[Guest]

I agree the first Tablet Maker to see below $299 in masses will win..Till then I won't even look at what they offer. Why do you think the HP TouchPad for $99 brought every website selling it to it's knees...It's all about price!!

 

[Guest]

Although I have a transformer and a EP121 (great Windows tablet for productivity. The Wacom pen, OneNote and MS journal are great) I can 't see an entertainment consuming tablet worth more than $150.

For $700+, I want Windows or OSX.

The problem I see is that for a tablet to be completely portable you need cell connectivity (3 or 4GS). Then you have to deal with ever increasing rates for data consumption.
Using above scenario, you are better off with a "smartphone".

I love my EP121. It is not cheap and battery life sucks, but when Windows runs decently on "ARM"
or hopefully "Tegra 3" with good battery life, then I can justify $700 price tag.

We all love to knock Windows, but try and find a decent printing app for Android. I have a wireless HP printer, but I can't print my Polaris Office documents, just pictures and web pages.

In my opinion, the current batch of tablets have "apps", NOT "applications".
Having said that, I haven't spent more than a couple of dollars for an "app".
Maybe there are "applications" available, if I was willing to spend more.

 

[gwailo247]

So even if you spend $700 on it, you're basically sentenced to data caps, which means that you may end up using WiFi in order to get the tablet's full potential with streaming video and what not, which makes getting the contract stupid in the first place.

 

[MrAnderson]

Maybe they feel like they only need to sell few at that price.

I think the over all value is not their in this product segment to price something that high and not be Apple... sorry but I'm being honest.

It is surely too high a price for me to get as a toy.