Hasta La Gadget!

In the dead of night … pre-orders happen. RIM has snuck out the first official pricing for its 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and, true to its promise, it costs less than $500. A cent less than $500. The 16GB WiFi-only PlayBook is now up for pre-order at Best Buy and is coming to a vast list of other retailers soon. Staples, Office Depot and RadioShack are among the popular US store chains, while AT&T, Sprint and Verizon will also carry the tablet. No T-Mobile on that list. Canadian pre-orders for the same model are now live as well, also at $499.99, albeit in the local dollar currency. A 32GB WiFi model will set Canucks back C$600 and the 64GB model is C$700, which might be indicative of US pricing too if price parity is maintained throughout the range. The almost full press release (still no release date) follows after the break.

Update: A second press release has confirmed full US pricing for the WiFi versions: 16GB is $500, 32GB is $600 and 64GB is $700. Scheduled to be available on April 19th!

Continue reading BlackBerry PlayBook priced at $500 for 16GB WiFi model, pre-orders begin today (update: available April 19th)

BlackBerry PlayBook priced at $500 for 16GB WiFi model, pre-orders begin today (update: available April 19th) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 04:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Buy knocks Nexus S down to $100 on contract for two weeks only originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 17:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wondering why the Thunderbolt isn’t in stores yet? Hard to say — apart from the reeling HTC and Verizon employees might be doing in light of the Apple / Intel news — but a Best Buy in California spilled the bad news on Twitter last night that it’s now expecting Big Red’s first LTE phone on March 4th. As Android Police points out, the store appears to have confused the day March 4th falls on (it’s a Friday, not a Thursday), but we’re figuring it’s far more likely the date is right, not the day of the week. And if Best Buy has a launch exclusive on this thing, that means it could be another week or two beyond that before the phone shows up in Verizon retail locations and elsewhere. Bummer, eh?

Update: We just got an image (you can see it for yourself after the break) that seems to set the ThunderBolt’s Best Buy arrival date even later than March 4th. According to the Best Buy Mobile document, it will be on sale on March 10th. We’re assuming the timing keeps being adjusted, but we think it’s pretty fair to say things keep getting pushed back.

Continue reading HTC Thunderbolt delayed until March 4th, says a Best Buy store with a Twitter account (update: or maybe March 10th?)

HTC Thunderbolt delayed until March 4th, says a Best Buy store with a Twitter account (update: or maybe March 10th?) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Buy’s laptop discovery tool is doing a slightly overzealous job this morning by listing a set of “new SKU” laptops from Apple Computer before said company has had a chance to announce them. This seems to corroborate recent rumors of a MacBook Pro refresh coming next week, as do the $1,199, $1,499, $1,799, and $2,199 price points, all of which are presently occupied by current-gen 13- and 15-inch MBP variants. There is an additional $2,499 sticker for a laptop identified only as “New SKU I,” which presumably points to an upgrade to Apple’s 17-incher. Regrettably, there’s nothing more than the pricing for us to go on, but feel free to fill your time until Best Buy populates its listings with speculation about the hot new processing, storage, and interconnect options Apple might have in store for us.

[Thanks, Michael]

Best Buy adding new Apple laptop SKUs to its systems, foreshadows MacBook Pro refresh originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Feb 2011 08:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google, Best Buy, Sony and others form alliance to defend FCC’s proposed ‘AllVid’ standard originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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