Verizon Prepping $100 Samsung Galaxy Tab Price DropVerizon Prepping $100 Samsung Galaxy Tab Price Drop

Samsung's Galaxy Tab debuted in the U.S. with a wide range of price points. Verizon offered it for $599 with no contract requirement, though it did offer several mobile broadband options if users were interested. Some of Verizon's competitors offered the Tab for $399, but with two-year contracts.

After less than two months in the U.S. market, Verizon is ready to lower the price point of the Android-powered tablet to $499.

Verizon could be dropping the price for any number of reasons. Many products see a modest price reduction after several months in the market. Despite Samsung's claims that the Tab is selling well worldwide (over 1 million), the company has provided no U.S.-specific metrics. Neither have any of Samsung's U.S. carrier partners, which are selling the Galaxy Tab. The price drop could be an effort to help boost sales, which might not be as robust as Verizon had hoped.

In December, Verizon competitor T-Mobile dropped the price of the Galaxy Tab to $349 (with a contract). None of the other carriers followed T-Mobile's holiday promotions with their own.

Yet another reason for the price drop could be the onslaught of Android-based tablet announcements expected at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas. Vendors across the board are preparing to debut new hardware, and price points will be one of many key differentiators in a segment that's going to soon be crowded with options.

Verizon itself is expected to debut tablets and smartphones with Long Term Evolution 4G on board, which will be a big selling point in the coming months. It will be difficult to sell non-LTE tablets once the LTE tablets hit the market.

Verizon Wireless also sells the Apple iPad, which starts at $499 for the Wi-Fi version. It could be that Verizon was seeing more sales of its iPad bundle than the Galaxy Tab bundles.

As of today, Verizon's web site still reflects the original $599 price point. The company hasn't made and official announcement on when the price reduction will go into effect