Here’s a puzzler: why is Lenovo’s brand-spanking new Gingerbread tablet now $30 more expensive on the company’s web store? The price of the cheapest IdeaPad A1 raised from $199 to $229, but the upgraded 16GB version will still be $249. Android Community is currently waiting for a response from Lenovo regarding the price change.

If you’re hoping to get the IdeaPad A1 at the original price, you’d better look around quickly. New tablets from the Lenovo store won’t ship until November at the earliest, and many other online retailers seem to be sold out of their stock. The A1 was only released a week ago. Without an official statement from Lenovo we’re left to speculate as to the reasons for the upgrade. It’s possible that the tablet is selling so well they don’t mind adjusting the supply-demand ratio a bit, or the original $199 price could have been meant as a special to spur interest from early adopters.

Even at $229, the IdeaPad K1 is a pretty good deal when measured against more expensive options. The 7-inch, 1024 x 600 display is roughly equal to the original Samsung Galaxy Tab, and the 1GHz processor should be zippy enough for most Android apps. Gingerbread is a bit of a discouragement, but it’s basically standard on tablets in the range. However, Lenovo’s adjusted pricing may come back to haunt them as the Amazon Kindle Fire release approaches. The heavily customized Gingerbread tablet lands in November for just $199, with mostly equal hardware and compelling integration with Amazon services.

[via Tablets Planet]