The Digital Reader

Editor’s Note: This is a replacement post for one that seems to have vanished. It’s old but I need to be able to point to it.

You would not believe some of the people I know.

I was just forwarded a copy of an offer email. Velocity Micro, a custom PC maker that got into Android tablets last year, hired a sourcing agency to sell off all of their current tablets at half the wholesale price.  The units are described as new in box and can be picked up at the warehouse in Memphis TN.

But don’t get too excited; the minimum order quantity is 10 thousand units and you can’t resell them here in the US.

Here are the prices:

• R101 Cruz Reader (7?, 800×600, resistive) – $48
• T101 Cruz Tablet (7?, 800×480, capacitive) – $65
• T301 (7?, 800×600, capacitive) – $86

The Cruz Reader and Tablet both came out last summer, and the T301 came out in December. And remember, you can get those prices only if you want to spend tens of thousands of dollars. That’s not the retail price.

I’m new to this particular activity, but this looks like the models have been discontinued and that VM are trying to hide that fact (that’s why you can’t resell in the US). This is actually a little unusual, in my experience. I mean, there are any number of last year’s tablets showing up on daily deals websites; VM are the only one who appear to be doing it quietly.

On a related note,  VM showed off a number of interesting new gadgets at CES 2011, so this is probably an effort to clear out their stock and make room for the new stuff. VM also signed a patent license agreement with MS back in late June, and that would be a sign that they planned to continue selling Android tablets.

Most importantly, I just heard back from VM and they will be announcing new products in the next few weeks.