Philly Papers Subsidize Tablets for Subscribers, But Don’t Get Too Excited

Some interesting news for you folks today. Philadelphia Media Network has announced their plans to allow subscribers to get discounted tablets in exchange for two-year membership to digital distributions of the Philadelphia Inquirer and/or the Philadelphia Daily News. The tablets will cost $99 after subsidy.

Plans for subsidizing tablets were revealed two months ago. It was originally slated to begin in August, but it seems the network had to push that date back a bit. We had no idea what sort of tablet folks would be getting for their money, but we’ve finally been enlightened.

Before you go calling up the newspaper company, consider this – it’s an Archos Arnova 10 G2 tablet. We’ve lightly covered the tablet here on Phandroid. It’s an uninspiring model with Android 2.3, a 10.1 inch display and a 1GHz processor. You’re also getting a front-facing camera.

For $99 you can’t expect a whole lot. Tablet subsidy has always been something of great desire. While we saw a bit of that starting with the original Samsung Galaxy Tab last year, subsidized prices were so inflated that you couldn’t even consider signing a two-year agreement for one at retail.

We’re willing to bet the first OEM and carrier (or newspaper or whatever) to subsidize quality Android 3.0+ tablets or $300 or less will attract a lot of business. Some tablets these days cost less than some smartphones so we’re not sure why it’s so difficult to get one in that $200-$300 price range for a two-year agreement. In any case, we’d urge all Philly newspaper subscribers to stay away from this one. [via BetaNews]