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Samsung Galaxy Tab is on sale from Verizon and T-Mobile, Sprint on Sunday

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After about seven months with the nascent tablet computer market largely to itself, Apple’s iPad has a new challenger arriving in stores Thursday: the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

The much hyped Galaxy Tab is available from Verizon for $599.99. The mobile carrier is also offering optional 3G data plans for the Galaxy Tab starting at 1 gigabyte of data for $20 a month.

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On Sunday, Sprint will start selling the Galaxy Tab, too, for $399.99. But Sprint is selling the tablet with mandatory 3G data plans starting at $29.99 a month for 2 gigabytes of data.

AT&T is supposed to start selling the Samsung tablet as well, but the carrier has yet to say when the device will arrive in its stores or pricing.

The Galaxy Tab’s $599.99 Verizon price-point comes in just $30 less that Apple’s starting price for its 3G iPad. Samsung’s new gadget is also smaller physically, with dimensions that make the Galaxy Tab feel very much like a thin paperback book in the hand.

The device, which runs on Google’s Android operating system designed for smart phones, features a 7-inch touch screen and a weight of just 0.84 of a pound. The 3G iPad has a 9.7-inch touch screen and weighs 1.6 pounds.

Samsung’s new tablet also features a front-facing camera, which can be used for video chatting, and a camera and flash on the back for shooting photos and video. The iPad has no cameras.

Samsung said it will offer a Wi-Fi only version of the Galaxy Tab, but hasn’t said when such an option, which will likely be priced less than the current Wi-Fi and 3G capable model, will arrive in stores.

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The Galaxy Tab’s arrival is just the beginning of increased competition in the tablet market. The BlackBerry Playbook will arrive next year for less than $500 and Hewlett-Packard will release its HP Slate running a tablet modified version of Palm’s WebOS operating system.

The appetite for tablet computers seems to be real. Apple said it has sold 7.5 million iPads since April.

[Updated 2:49 p.m. Nov. 5] The Galaxy Tab arrived in T-Mobile stores on Wednesday, selling for $399.99, after a $50 mail-in rebate. T-Mobile is selling the Galaxy Tab for $399.99 online with the $50 already knocked off, allowing consumers to skip the rebate process. Both in-store and online $399.99 price points through the carrier require a 2-year data plan, which start at about $30 a month.

T-Mobile is also selling the Galaxy Tab for $599.99 without a data plan and the company is allows Galaxy Tab owners to use their tablets as Wi-Fi hot spots at no extra charge. Sprint charges $30 per month for the ability to use the Galaxy Tab as a Wi-Fi hot spot.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

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