Gearheads gear up for tablets, the next wave in touchscreens
By Gabriel Madway |
January 9, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CALL it a "slate" or call it a "tablet," the technology world is suddenly awash with a novel category of mobile devices seeking to grab the spotlight from a hugely anticipated product launch by Apple Inc later this month.
Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc, Motorola Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd are among the companies showing off thin, touchscreen computing devices at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.
These new portable gadgets are chock full of multimedia and Web-browsing capabilities, aiming to win over consumer hearts by bridging the gap between smart phones and laptops.
They are jockeying for attention ahead of Apple's widely expected announcement of a 10- to 11-inch tablet computer on January 27, which could redefine the category much as the iPhone did for phones.
"There's going to be tablets of every form and kind coming," said Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive of Nvidia Corp, whose graphics chips are found in many multimedia gadgets.
Huang said a number of new devices based on Nvidia's Tegra chip are forthcoming and called 2010 the beginning of a "tablet revolution."
What's unclear is whether any of these devices, including Apple's, can convince consumers to open their pocketbooks at a time when the economy is just beginning to stabilize and the pace of recovery is yet uncertain.
"How do you make them usable and at a price point people will pay, which I suggest is sub-US$500," asked Kim Caughey, senior analyst at fund manager Fort Pitt Capital Group.
The distinction between a slate and tablet at this point seems semantic.
Motorola demonstrated a prototype "media tablet" with a 7-inch screen that runs on Google Inc's Android operating system, and has room for 32 gigabytes of external memory. It can stream movie trailers from the Web, as well as download and store video to watch later.
Motorola said the device could sell for around US$300 and be ready commercially by the fourth quarter.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer showed up with a larger slate by Hewlett-Packard but did not give any details on when it might hit stores, while Dell said it could bring a 5-inch slate to market this year.
These new devices appear to be distinct from electronic readers such as Amazon.com Inc's Kindle, which are best used for books and periodicals and have little multimedia functionality.
Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc, Motorola Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd are among the companies showing off thin, touchscreen computing devices at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.
These new portable gadgets are chock full of multimedia and Web-browsing capabilities, aiming to win over consumer hearts by bridging the gap between smart phones and laptops.
They are jockeying for attention ahead of Apple's widely expected announcement of a 10- to 11-inch tablet computer on January 27, which could redefine the category much as the iPhone did for phones.
"There's going to be tablets of every form and kind coming," said Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive of Nvidia Corp, whose graphics chips are found in many multimedia gadgets.
Huang said a number of new devices based on Nvidia's Tegra chip are forthcoming and called 2010 the beginning of a "tablet revolution."
What's unclear is whether any of these devices, including Apple's, can convince consumers to open their pocketbooks at a time when the economy is just beginning to stabilize and the pace of recovery is yet uncertain.
"How do you make them usable and at a price point people will pay, which I suggest is sub-US$500," asked Kim Caughey, senior analyst at fund manager Fort Pitt Capital Group.
The distinction between a slate and tablet at this point seems semantic.
Motorola demonstrated a prototype "media tablet" with a 7-inch screen that runs on Google Inc's Android operating system, and has room for 32 gigabytes of external memory. It can stream movie trailers from the Web, as well as download and store video to watch later.
Motorola said the device could sell for around US$300 and be ready commercially by the fourth quarter.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer showed up with a larger slate by Hewlett-Packard but did not give any details on when it might hit stores, while Dell said it could bring a 5-inch slate to market this year.
These new devices appear to be distinct from electronic readers such as Amazon.com Inc's Kindle, which are best used for books and periodicals and have little multimedia functionality.
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