AT&T officially said it will sell the 7-in. Samsung Galaxy Tab for $649.99 on Nov. 21, making it the fourth of the major carriers to offer the device, AT&T and Samsung announced today.
AT&T already sells the 16GB version of the iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G for $629, and will offer the Galaxy Tab with the same monthly data plans that it provides the iPad. Those plans are $14.99 a month for 250MB of data service and $25 a month for 2GB.
The $21 higher price for the Galaxy Tab is seen by many as an incentive for AT&T customers to buy an iPad, which comes with a larger 9.7-in. touchscreen but doesn't have the two cameras or the removable memory card of the Galaxy Tab.
Still, the Galaxy Tab on AT&T will be $50 more than Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA are charging for an unlocked version.
Verizon is also offering four monthly data plans, and only sells the device unlocked, with sales that began last Thursday. Verizon's data plans start at $20 a month for 1GB of data and up to $80 a month for 10GB.
T-Mobile began selling the Galaxy Tab last Wednesday at $600 without a contract and two choices of data plans, or $399.99 with a two-year contract. Sprint Nextel sales of the tablet began on Sunday for $399.99 with a two-year contract.
Tablet maker Samsung will be the biggest winner as its Galaxy Tab is sold by all four major U.S. carriers. The rival iPad is sold by AT&T and, more recently, on Verizon's network when coupled with a MiFi mobile hot spot. The iPad is estimated to have sold about 8 million copies, and the Galaxy Tab is expected to take much longer to reach that threshold.
Still, some reviewers, including Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal have given the Galaxy Tab favorable reviews, despite its smaller screen.
Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed . His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com .
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