The first Feldman File videoblog is live!

I've posted the first episode of the Feldman File videoblog to YouTube! Let's put it this way: It can only get better from here. I should have taken that scholarship to the Columbia School of Broadcasting when it was offered to me.

This week's episode covers the following news:

• Barnes & Noble's NOOKcolor eBook reader (and Android tablet wannabe)
• Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon have all set prices and availability dates for their versions of Samsung's Galaxy Tab Android tablet
• News from Adobe's MAX Developers' Conference
• Sencha Animator, a timeline tool for animation using HTML and CSS3, goes into beta
• Roku licenses the hardware and software behind its Internet set-top boxes to consumer electronics companies
• IDC reports that Apple has become the world's fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer, passing Research in Motion

T-Mobile to sell Samsung's Galaxy Tab for $399

T-Mobile announced today that it will match Sprint's price and sell its version of Samsung's Galaxy Tab Android tablet starting November 10th for $399 with a two-year contract and data plan. Its 200MB plan will cost $29.99/month, while the 5GB plan will cost $49.99/month, with discounts for existing T-Mobile customers. Prepaid mobile broadband plans are also available, but they're not cost-effective, and T-Mobile hasn't said that it will sell an unbundled version of the Galaxy Tab.

According to eWeek, Sprint's data plan options for its version of the Galaxy Tab are $29.99 for 2GB/month or $59.99 for 5GB/month. Verizon will only sell an unsubsidized version of the Galaxy Tab for $599.99, with a month-to-month 1GB data plan for $20/month. It's confusing, and probably deliberately so, but it looks like the best deal for people who want continuous data coverage but won't use a lot of bandwidth is the Sprint 2GB/month plan. Customers who will use a lot of bandwidth (primarily for video) should go with the T-Mobile 5GB/month plan. Verizon's price is appealing only for those customers that have to have a Galaxy Tab and will primarily use it on WiFi networks. For those customers, a WiFi-only iPad would be a better option.

Sprint offers Samsung Galaxy Tab for $399.99

According to Engadget, Sprint just because the second U.S. broadband service provider to price the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7" Android tablet. Sprint will sell it for $399.99 starting November 14th for customers that commit to a two-year data plan, or $599.99 for customers that opt for month-to-month data coverage ($29.99 for 2GB/month or $59.99 for 5GB/month.) From the Sprint website, it appears that the monthly prices for the 2-year and month-to-month plans are the same.

The option to buy the Galaxy Tab at a subsidized price is likely to drive many more sales than Verizon's unsubsidized $599.99 pricing. However, AT&T and T-Mobile will also be carrying the Galaxy Tab, and they might offer even more aggressive offers when they announce their pricing.

Not much on the Android tablet front for this holiday season?

Two pieces of news point provide some insight into the timing of the next major release of Google's Android, and its impact on Android tablets for the coming holiday season. Yesterday, Samsung formally announced that all four major U.S. mobile carriers will sell the Galaxy Tab in the U.S., starting before the end of the year. However, the company said that the Galaxy Tab will ship without 4G support and will not work as a phone. Today, Motorola announced in the Wall Street Journal that it will delay introduction of its first Android tablet until next year.

Let's put these two announcements in perspective: Google has said that the current version of Android, 2.2, also called Froyo, is not appropriate for tablets. While Google will approve access for devices to its Android Market on a case-by-case basis, the company has called for tablet vendors to wait for the release of Android 3.0, also called Gingerbread. Motorola Co-CEO Sanjay Jha seconded Google's recommendation, saying that he doesn't believe that Froyo is appropriate for tablets and that Motorola will wait to release its tablet until Android is ready.

In yesterday's announcement, Samsung said that while the Galaxy Tab will run Froyo, it has written apps specifically for the device to take advantage of its capabilities. Samsung warned that most existing Android Market apps won't run properly on the Galaxy Tab.

Consider one additional item: Verizon is launching its LTE 4G service in 30 cities in the U.S. before the end of the year, and Motorola was widely reported to be supplying a tablet for that launch. Therefore, there was an assumption that Google would release Gingerbread in November. However, we now know that the Motorola tablet won't ship until 2011 and that Samsung won't support 4G in the Galaxy Tab when it ships later this year.

Put it all together, and it's fairly clear that Gingerbread won't ship until 2011. That means that all of the Android tablets that ship this year will be using an operating system unsuited for tablets, and will have limited or no access to the Android Market. For these reasons, I believe that the forecasts for big sales of Android tablets this holiday season are going to have to be scaled back considerably.

Apple will continue to have a largely open field, unhindered by significant competition, until next year. I have no idea if there's any truth to the rumors that Apple will launch a 7" iPad in time for the holiday season, but if they do, it will only add momentum to Apple's tablet business and push competitors deeper in the hole for 2011.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab to be announced in the US this week?

According to FierceWireless, Samsung will formally announce its U.S. carrier partners and launch date(s) for the 7" Galaxy Tab Android-based tablet this Thursday, September 16th, in New York. Bloomberg reports that AT&T, Sprint and Verizon will all carry the Galaxy Tab, and that the price of the device will be $200 to $300, depending on carrier subsidies. According to Bloomberg, AT&T and Sprint have decided on their subsidies, while Verizon is still uncertain.

The Galaxy Tab can be used as a smartphone, but given its size, most customers are likely to keep their existing phones. If carriers require a full phone account in order to get a subsidized Galaxy Tab, it's likely to lose a great deal of its potential market. On the other hand, if the carriers offer both reasonably-priced data-only subscriptions along with conventional voice and data plans, interest in the tablet should translate into significant sales.

Previous reports indicated that the Galaxy Tab will ship next month in Europe, and that it will ship in the U.S. in November, in time for the holiday sales season.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab: Real, impressive, unpriced

Samsung has officially introduced the Android 2.2-based Galaxy Tab at IFA in Berlin. It has a 7 inch display with slightly lower resolution than the iPad (1024 x 600) but more dots per inch, front- and rear-facing cameras, and a 3G GSM modem with the capability to act as a (big) smartphone as well. Samsung has created a custom user interface and Android apps designed to take full advantage of the tablet's screen. In addition, the Galaxy Tab is the first Android tablet with official permission from Google to access the Android Marketplace.

It's when you start talking about prices and availability dates that details get a bit sketchy. Samsung says that the Galaxy Tab will be released in Europe this Fall but quoted no prices, and has provided no details about either a release date or price in the U.S. I suspect that it will be released in November in the U.S., in partnership with one or more of the major mobile carriers (most likely Verizon). It'll almost certainly be priced less than the iPad, but how much less (given that it has more features than the iPad) remains to be seen. Also, to work with Verizon's network, it will need CDMA support, which wasn't announced at IFA.

We're going to get a barrage of Android tablets between now and the end of the year (Toshiba just showed its dual-operating system Toshiba Folio 100 at IFA, Archos announced a new family of Android tablets yesterday, and Viewsonic announced its ViewPad 7 on Monday.)