Buyer’s Remorse: 16 Percent of Galaxy Tabs Are Returned

No wonder sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab to date haven’t been what the company expected. Not only are consumers buying fewer of them than previously thought–they’re also returning them more frequently.

ITG Investment Research tracked point-of-sale data from nearly 6,000 wireless stores in the U.S. from the Galaxy Tab’s November debut through Jan. 15 and found the device to have an unusually high return rate. According to its estimates, cumulative return rates for the Galaxy Tab through December of 2010 were about 13 percent. Worse, that percentage is growing as holiday purchases are returned. ITG figures cumulative Galaxy Tab return rates through January 15 were 16 percent. Ugly, considering the return rate for the iPad at Verizon since its debut on the carrier is just 2 percent.

But perhaps to be expected given Google’s own admonishments about Android Froyo’s tablet suitability. As Hugo Barra, director of products for mobile at Google, said last fall: Froyo is not optimised for use on tablets. If you want Android market on that platform, the apps just wouldn’t run, [Froyo] is just not designed for that form factor.”

[Image Credit: David Lyle/Wooster Collective]