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Best Buy's Samsung HDTV and Galaxy Tab combo offer: "Bundling two losing products together"?

Summary: Samsung is the biggest name in 3D TV, and its Galaxy Tab is the best-known Android tablet competitor to the iPad. So when Best Buy decided to bundle a free Galaxy Tab with a 46-inch 3D Samsung LED-baclkit HDTV for $1,499.

Sean Portnoy

By for Home Theater |

Samsung is the biggest name in 3D TV, and its Galaxy Tab is the best-known Android tablet competitor to the iPad. So when Best Buy decided to bundle a free Galaxy Tab with a 46-inch 3D Samsung LED-baclkit HDTV for $1,499.99 for the next week, it would seem like it was a case of making a good thing better, either way you looked at it.

But that's not how everyone is looking at it. Samsung says the promotion is design to boost TV sales, not tablet sales, which is a bit of a bad sign for the HDTV industry. It confirms research that shows that demand for new sets is flat, and that 3D wasn't the panacea manufacturers had hoped. However, given the HP TouchPad's unceremonious exit from the stage last week, one can't help but question how well other tablets are selling in the face of the iPad onslaught.

Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps sums it succinctly for the Wall Street Journal: “It’s like bundling two losing products together.” Nonetheless, Epps seems more convinced that the tablet side of things is probably more of a concern for Samsung, as well as every tablet maker, since "“[r]etailers say that tablets are just sitting in the channel."

The 46-inch TV and tablet deal is only available in Best Buy stores, but the retailer is offering a 55-inch TV and Galaxy Tab combo online for $1,999.99. Do these bundle deals seem appealing to you? Should more HDTVs be sold with tablets? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments section.

Topics: Hardware, Mobility, Samsung, Tablets

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  • RE: Best Buy's Samsung HDTV and Galaxy Tab combo offer:

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    Quarizma
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  • Not seeing it....

    I own a Samsung HDTV - best of the three I have.
    Will be getting another later this year.
    Will I take a tablet with it? Sure!

    I see this more as a response to the recent spate of adds linking the ipad / iphone with apple tv. Consumptive sale.

    Not a bad thing.
    Not sure why you placed this particular spin on it... :|
    rhonin
    Reply Vote

    • I agree. It appears that analysts and bloggers still do not understand

      @rhonin
      that the public's perception of things is far different then their own.

      Many of these analysts seem genuinely surprised when iPad, Mac, and iPods sales where slightly less then they predicted, an idication they do not understand the markets they are anaylizing.

      It is one thing to follow and prdict a trend based on numbers and factors, another matter when basing it off of one's dislike of a competing product.
      :|
      Tim Cook
      Reply Vote

    • He is talking about the 3D HDTVs

      @rhonin They aren't selling.
      wackoae
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Best Buy's Samsung HDTV and Galaxy Tab combo offer:

      @rhonin
      Because apple pays Sean Portnoy to.
      rparker009
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Best Buy's Samsung HDTV and Galaxy Tab combo offer:

      @rhonin
      I have to agree Samgung and LG are the tops in TV makers today. The galaxy tab is an excellent device i own the original and the new 10.1 and it kills the ipad and is a stable great device. The samsung tvs are just awesome all the way around so not sure how putting 2 great products together means they are looser products???
      Fletchguy
      Reply Vote

  • Research ....

    Hmm... Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has sold 1 million units in two months ... not up to Apple sales, but also not bad. Perhaps, you should do more research before writing such an article:

    http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9199678/Update_Galaxy_Tab_sales_hit_1M_mark

    I don't know why Samsung is bundling these together, I've been trying to get a white Galaxy Tab for a month, but they are in short supply. I have one on order, with a 3 week wait. But, this could be a way for Samsung to get more mindshare - which is what Apple already excels at.
    roteague
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Best Buy's Samsung HDTV and Galaxy Tab combo offer:

    Yet another case of a biased article from Zdnet. Both Samsung's TVs & Tabs are the safest bets in their respective markets. Don't forget: Android is what it is today, bcoz of Samsung. The kingmaker will sooner or later become king!
    jaimaa@...
    Reply Vote

    • Samsung HDTV are selling .... the 3Ds are not

      @jaimaa@... I think that was his point.
      wackoae
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Best Buy's Samsung HDTV and Galaxy Tab combo offer:

    I wouldn't read anything into this except that if you want a Galaxy Tab but not a TV wait a few weeks as they are sure to have a price cut ($100 at least). The TV is a good one though, nice thin bezel and thin profile. Samsung will be flooding the market with tablets to try to get a chunk of the Android tablet share before the low-end makers get a toe-hold. Apple won't be discounting until the iPad3 to clear iPad2 inventory.
    Jwmf
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Best Buy's Samsung HDTV and Galaxy Tab combo offer:

    These kinds of bundling deals work best when they are husband-and-wife combos, e.g. "buy the living room set, get the wide-screen TV right before football season."

    This does not look like one of those deals.
    Robert Hahn
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Best Buy's Samsung HDTV and Galaxy Tab combo offer:

    $1,500 for a 46' TV and a tablet. That is actually a hell of a deal despite what the poor iSheep who wrote this article thinks!
    omdguy
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Best Buy's Samsung HDTV and Galaxy Tab combo offer:

    I see all kinds of addons for tablet computers that just turn them into anemically powered laptops; if ever there was a product in search for a market, this is it. the same can be said for 3D television, better to improve the picture and sound rather than foist this crap on consumers.
    bobc47@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Best Buy's Samsung HDTV and Galaxy Tab combo offer:

    This is a content-free and spiteful attack on Samsung. Shame on you.

    Didn't your mother teach you: "If you have nothing interesting / nice / original / useful to say, then shut up!"
    Heenan73
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Best Buy's Samsung HDTV and Galaxy Tab combo offer:

    Correction: it's a poorly worded and not well thought-out attempt to comment on the state of 3D TV and non-iPad tablets. Agree that it has nothing to do with Samsung.
    ejhonda
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Best Buy's Samsung HDTV and Galaxy Tab combo offer:

    I would be all for it if it wasn't a Best Buy exclusive. Regardless of what kind of deal they offer, I refuse to step foot into a Best Buy store, and I know many others who feel the same. They could have at least partnered up with a more respectable retailer. Plus this research that shows HDTV sales being 'flat', don't factor in many of the biggest contributing factors. Maybe Samsung should start making 5h1ttier products so that the rate of failure increases, prompting more frequent demand. Besides, as people start bailing on Apple because of their ridiculous frivolous lawsuits, all things Samsung will prevail.
    beavo040
    Reply Vote

  • Galaxy Tab 'Oil Slick' issue become more prevalent

    Would advise others against buying the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

    Myself and many others have been witnessing the so called 'oil slick' fault (video here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orEJGB9r7OE)

    Hardware fault and apparently can't be fixed.
    kwaters89
    Reply Vote
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