Carphone Warehouse first with the Samsung Galaxy Tab

Here in the UK the Carphone Warehouse has become the first mainstream retailer to begin taking pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

This is noteworthy because it gives the Samsung Galaxy Tab an expected by date. Carphone Warehouse are saying November 2010 (but note that may change). There is no expected date for the Android powered device in the US at all.

I’m pretty keen on this 7 inch screen tablet. I don’t have an iPad and don’t see myself buying one (though I’m happy to win one). I do worry that Chrome OS tablets are just around the corner too and surely they’ll be far more sexy than adapted Android tablets. That’s why the due date issue is so important; just how long will we have to wait?

The reason why a big name like the Carphone Warehouse will come out and start taking pre-orders when some of the details might not be clear is simple – business. It’s a marketing call. For example, Geek Native is writing about the Samsung Galaxy Tab being available at the retailer. That’s a win for them. There’s also benefits in search marketing as this is a chunky page, with lots of information and so reason for people to talk about it.

There’s some interesting snippets of text in the Samsung Galaxy Tab pre-order page, though. They say that you can watch the BBC’s iPlayer on the device. And you can. Just  not through an official BBC application (unless they’ve written one recently; comment and let me know). I use the beebPlayer application for the iPlayer on my HTC Desire.

The tab’s description also talks about the new Samsung movie portal. You can rent films to watch for iTunes-style prices. I can’t but help feeling that someone like Sony might be drooling over this sort of thing. Sony, of course, make hardware devices and their Vaio laptop line does well but they also own a movie company. Remember  how the PlayStation 3 won the Blu-Ray vs HDD war for them.  We’re just about to see the first Sony TV’s with Google TV built in. Is this another reason to wait and not to rush on the Samsung Galaxy Tab? Should we wait to see what Sony come up with?

All opinions welcome. Are you buying a Samsung Tab?