Thoughts on Dell’s Latitude XT Tablet PC Pricing

We posted about the launch of Dell’s Latitude XT Tablet PC last night. I’ve been reading comments here and elsewhere about the launch and I’m not surprised at all with what everyone is saying: heaping praise on the weight and capacitive touch, but unanimously slamming it for a starting price being $800 – $1000 over its competitors. Capacitive touch is a nice feature, but it is not worth that kind of premium.

I have to be honest here and say I was quite surprised when Dell told me the starting price was $2499. I thought I misheard, hoping they had said $1499. After confirming the price, I told myself “this is not going to go over well at all, and it will be the focal point for an otherwise impressive Tablet PC.”

I believe Dell is banking on volume orders from their vertically targeted market for the Latitude XT, which will definitely see the price drop significantly. For the rest of us, though, I doubt we’ll see a price drop for several months – but the price will drop. It has to.

Meanwhile, Lenovo and Toshiba must be feeling good right now. Suddenly, their offerings look like real bargains, and Toshiba couldn’t have come out looking better with their launch yesterday. HP’s 2710p, minus the capacitive touch, is on par with a lot of the features of Latitude XT, and it is looking like a real steal. If Dell really wants to compete in this market, they need to listen more closely to what consumers are saying: $2499 just ain’t gonna cut it. We are tired of paying premium pricing, and we had all hoped that Dell would set themselves apart differently here. To say we are disappointed is an understatement.

I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a review unit, and will definitely be bringing a fair and balanced in-depth video review, as well a comparison to its competitors.