Exactly. Tablets/Netbooks have been going down in price for some time, so while this is cheap by hardware standards, I would take into account the hidden costs - that many users will need to shell out ~$30 a month on data plans.
So this $250 + ~$600-700 over 2 years for a total of almost $1000. I'd consider that instead of the "low sticker price" when comparing options.