staples

Consumers eyeing Google's new Nexus 7 tablet now have another choice of retailer.

Staples announced yesterday that it will carry both models of the new tablet -- the 8GB version for $199 and the 16GB edition for $249.

The Nexus 7 is currently available for preorder through the Staples Web site, an offer good until July 11.

Staples expects to ship the tablet between July 12 and July 17. Consumers can opt to have the tablet delivered to their homes or to their nearest Staples store. Either way, shipping is free.

Potential buyers who'd like to play with … Read more

Once you've finished up your more involved DIY projects--replacing the rusted-out floor in that Volkswagen, say, or converting a Mr. Potato Head into a painstakingly crafted Mad Maxian monster--you'll no doubt need a simpler task to help you unwind.

We've got just the thing. All it requires is a staple gun, a few staples, and a little bit of wall space. Shouldn't take too much time. All you're doing, really, is drawing a picture--with staples. That's right: instead of tracing out your lines or rubbing in your shadows with a pencil, say, or maybe stippling all that in with a paintbrush, you simply whip out the staple gun and start plugging away (and you know that will help you unwind).… Read more

Apple and Amazon took home the best grades in customer satisfaction among people who did their holiday shopping via a mobile device.

ForeSee Results' "E-Retail Satisfaction Index" looked at the top 16 retail sites out of a possible 40 to gauge which offered the best mobile experience for holiday buyers. Apple's score of 85 out of 100 and Amazon's score of 84 handily surpassed third-place Dell with only 78.

Foresee Usability Team Lead Matthew Dull said both companies place huge value on the customer experience and carry that into their mobile environments.

While Amazon has both … Read more

The discounts keep coming for the BlackBerry PlayBook.

The latest comes from a leaked Staples ad found by TechCrunch. The office-supply retailer appears to be offering the 16GB PlayBook for $199 as part of its Black Friday special. A full listing of Staples' Black Friday specials can be found here.

This marks the steepest price cut yet for the PlayBook, which stumbled out of the gate and hasn't sold particularly well despite a spate of recent discounts. RIM has seeded the developer community with thousands of PlayBook tablets and is pushing heavy promotions to move its inventory. More importantly, it wants more consumers using its next-generation operating system, which will eventually power its high-end smartphones. … Read more

BlackBerry PlayBook prices are beginning to see a slow but steady descent at major U.S. electronics retailer Staples, in the wake of a sharp, though temporary, discount earlier this month at Best Buy.

This also comes after RIM reported lackluster earnings on Thursday and said it would start several programs to drive PlayBook sales.

On Thursday, RIM said it has shipped only 200,000 PlayBooks in the fiscal second quarter, less than half of the 490,000 tablets analysts had expected.

Staples began cutting the price on the 16GB PlayBook earlier this month, reducing it to $449.99 from $499.99. Now it has applied the same discount for the 32GB and 64GB models. Those drop to $549 and $649 from $599 and $699, respectively.

Earlier this month, Best Buy offered the 64GB PlayBook at $549.99, $150 off the original price of $699.99. But that discount lasted only a weekend.

The PlayBook is one of the few non-Apple tablets being sold at retailers that doesn't come with Google's Android operating system. Instead, it uses the BlackBerry Tablet Operating System, based on QNX technology. The same technology that will begin to appear on BlackBerry phones next year.

The 7-inch tablet has some fairly robust hardware, including a 1GHz dual-core processor from Texas Instruments, a multitouch capacitive 1024x600 screen, front and rear cameras, Micro USB and Micro HDMI ports, and 1080p HD video. Access to 3G networks is via BlackBerry phones. … Read more

There's almost no place a tablet won't go these days--more than a third of slate owners say they've even taken their tab into the bathroom with them.

No word on whether the old-school print magazines and newspapers of the world consider this new development to be a slight or a relief.

The finding comes from a June online survey of 200 tablet users at companies of various sizes by Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of the office supply company. It found that the tablet trend is leading to more productivity, both in the potty and beyond.

In addition to the 35 percent of respondents who admitted to touch-screen multitasking in the loo, 78 percent use a tablet in bed and 30 percent use theirs in restaurants. Sixty percent of users also said they take their tablet with them on vacation and use it to check in or do work.

Three-quarters of tablet owners use their slate to check e-mail, while a third are reviewing and editing documents via their touch screens.

"Tablets offer fantastic convenience and a better work/life balance, making it easy for employees to keep information with them and utilize business apps, no matter where they go." says Ed Ludwigson, vice president and general manager for Staples Technology Solutions, in a statement.

Indeed, nothing says productivity like taking care of business...while taking care of business.… Read more

Staples has begun selling the 11.6-inch Samsung Series 3 laptop for $619 after "instant savings," one of the least expensive ultraportables based on Intel's latest Sandy Bridge processor.

The Series 3 presages sub-$800 Ultrabooks likely to appear in 2012 from PC makers. Though--with a maximum thickness of about 1 inch--it's not as thin as Ultrabooks are expected to be, the weight is about right at 2.8 pounds.

The silicon is similar to Ultrabooks too. In this case, an ultra power efficient Intel Core i3-2357M Sandy Bridge processor.

Unlike the Samsung Series 9 (which … Read more

Been eyeballing a tablet? There are some pretty spiffy new models hitting the streets right now, most of them powered by Android Honeycomb. Alas, prices start at around $400--less than what you'd pay for the low-end iPad 2, but still pretty steep.

If you have a Staples store near you, you can save $100 on nearly any tablet using this printable coupon. Yowza! That translates to some of the best tablet prices anywhere.

For example, the Acer Iconia A500 10-inch Android tablet sells for $399.98, but when you stroll in with your coupon, you can walk out with … Read more

The tablet era has arrived at big-box retailers, which are now setting aside large swaths of floor space previously devoted to traditional PCs.

Best Buy is probably the highest-profile example of this trend. At U.S. stores, it has overhauled--or is in the process of overhauling--display areas. Tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola Xoom, and Hewlett-Packard TouchPad now get prominent placement at stores, rendering the iPad just one among equals.

This is all part of Best Buy's "Tablet Central" strategy. Here's how Bill Seymour, vice president of investor relations at Best Buy, explained … Read more