True we are coming off a holiday weekend here in the United States, and that inevitably means the flow of news was slow, but is there anyone that hasn't thrown down at least a little speculation as to what the Samsung Galaxy Tab is going to cost? And wouldn't it benefit Samsung to just finally tell us so all of this sky high speculation would come to an end?

samsung_galaxy_tabFor reasons known only to Samsung, the company introduced its highly anticipated Android-based tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, last week without cluing anyone in on the pricing.  At that time we ran down all of its technical specifications, and it sounded like a heck of a device, but without knowing the price, it's a bit difficult for anyone to decide if they are actually going to want to purchase the device or not.

The Wall Street Journal is pegging it at $200 to $300, but that's with cellular carrier subsidies.  As I stated at the time of the announcement, I think that being tied to carrier contracts could be the death of this device as no one wants to live under another contract.

That's where the speculation of non-carrier pricing has gotten downright scary.   Tom's Guide is reporting some rumors of pricing in the range of €699 ($890, 16 GB model) in France, €799 ($1,020, 32 GB model) in Germany £680 ($1,050, 16 GB model).  Sometimes you see companies pick a number like 699 and make that the price in whatever currency the country they are selling in uses, but that isn't always the case.  If this ends up being $699 for 16 GB and $799 or 32 GB in the United States, they aren't totally out of line with what the market will withstand considering all of the goodies packed into the device.

The problem is, I don't think those are the prices.  When you see that the Samsung Galaxy S goes for $200 with contract, and $620 without, you can't imagine a device this much larger being only $79 more without contract.

Hopefully we'll find out more information in the not too distant future, but things aren't looking all that promising on the pricing front.  And if you add in that most consumers will look at the screen size and judge it based on the fact that it is smaller than the iPad, and the Galaxy Tab may not be long for this world.

What say you?  Are you interested in buying a tablet on contract?