Earlier today, Qualcomm (News - Alert) unveiled its pricing for its new developers' tablet. While the tablet itself looks pretty powerful indeed, its pricing will be no less. So, by comparison, it makes even the iPad look like a bargain.

Qualcomm's new tablet is set to sell for $1299, but it won't be lacking in power or in features. It's the first-ever tablet to run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor, packing in an APQ8064 chip, complete with asynchronous Quad CPU cores. Each of those cores, in turn, has a clock speed of 1.5 GHz. Graphics are addressed by way of an Adreno 320 GPU, and the display itself is worthy of a GPU, as it's made up of a WXGA touch panel. Users also get an included docking station and a variety of cables and adapters to suit most any relevant need.

In what may be the only disappointment of the tablet, its running Android (News - Alert) 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich, so even those purchasing one of the most powerful tablets on Earth won't get access to Android's newest version right away. But Jelly Bean's early nature may make it more impediment than a valuable selling tool at this stage of the game, and an update will likely be forthcoming.

Qualcomm developed the tablet, reportedly, primarily as a way to get more Android developers into the fold. Given the current nature of the Android Market, which is lacking in tablet-optimized apps behind its primary competitor of the Apple (News - Alert) App Store, it's clear that more developers are needed. Though developing apps for Android devices is somewhat more challenging than developing for iOS devices--basically because iOS devices are far fewer in number overall than the much more widely diffuse Android tablet market--it doesn't change the fact that Android tablets simply need more apps to be viable against iOS.

But if this tablet can fuel more tablet-optimized apps for Android, it will provide in turn a one-two punch against Apple's market share. Not only will it provide a tablet that swamps Apple's current model in power, but it will also make other Android tablets more viable in sales thanks to increased app support. This isn't good news for Apple overall, but Apple's massive fan base will likely not be too swayed by improved conditions in the Android market any time soon, except possibly for those pragmatists who went with Apple thanks to a better environment.

The end result of the Qualcomm quad-core tablet will take time to fully reveal itself, but in the short term, this powerful and pricey new tablet may be just what Android needed to put up a better fight against its Cupertino nemesis.

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