Hasta La Gadget!

HTC’s forthcoming Flyer Android tablet, shown at Mobile World Congress in February. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Wired.com

HTC wants its Android tablet to stand out from the myriad others introduced this year, offering a stylus pen to complement its new hardware. But differentiation might prove too pricey for customers.

According to pre-order pages at Best Buy’s website, the HTC-made digital stylus will not be included with the company’s tablet offering, the 7-inch HTC Flyer. Instead, the pen will be sold separately with a hefty $80 price tag. There’s also an option to buy the pen with a leather carrying case for $110, or the case alone for $35.

As more tablets enter the market in the wake of the iPad’s yearlong head start, it has been difficult for companies to distinguish their products. And the Flyer’s hardware comes with the usual accoutrements, including a 5-megapixel back-facing camera, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support.

But HTC’s inclusion of a digital stylus looked like a mark of differentiation amidst an already crowded field. The company promoted the pen heavily in a video it released earlier this year (seen below), and even refers to the stylus as a “magic pen” in the first sentence on the HTC Flyer’s website.

With the Flyer’s initial price tag of $500, however, you may not be willing to shell out an extra $80 for a separate stylus, or another $30 for the pouch to carry it. Since most other tablets’ prices also start at about $500, the pen’s surcharge makes it an option rather than a necessity. That may not be enough to sell more Flyers.

Would you pay another $80 for a stylus to go with your tablet? Let us know in the comments below.