Competition in the nascent, but fast-growing tablet market has intensified with more companies unveiling their own tablet computers to counter Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPad.
Japanese electronics giant Toshiba Corp. (TOSBF.PK) and South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. (SSNLF.PK) launched their new products on Thursday at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Germany.
The industry believes the market is ready for tablet computers, thanks to the spread of smartphones and the development of state-of-the-art telecommunication technology. These new category of devices, which are featured between smartphones and laptop computers, are easy to carry than laptops and boast a bigger touchscreen than smartphones. They are useful for watching videos, playing games and reading e-books, newspapers and magazines on the go.
Toshiba on Thursday unveiled its multimedia tablet computer, the Folio 100 Tablet, at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Germany. The Folio has a 10.1-inch diagonal display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels and runs version 2.2 of Google's Android, which supports Adobe Flash. The Adobe Flash is a web technology for playing video. The feature represents an edge over the iPad, which cannot play Flash video.
The Folio supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless. The tablet is about a half inch thick and weighs 1.7 pounds. Software that has been pre-installed on the device includes the Opera Mobile web browser, the FBReader e-book reader, the office suite Documents To Go, notes software Evernote, Adobe Flash 10.1 and Fring, an application that combined with Folio's built-in webcam provides video calling.
The Folio 100 is scheduled to be available in the fourth quarter throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Toshiba has not yet decided whether to launch the product in other regions like the U.S. or Japan. Reports indicate that the Folio will retail for 399 Euros or $511, which is cheaper than iPad's 499 Euro price tag.
Samsung's Galaxy Tab is the first of the company's tablet devices, and is an enlarged version of the company's flagship Galaxy S smartphone. the device is feature rich with facilities to read e-books, newspapers, and allows voice and video communication, SMS, MMS and email. The Samsung device too supports the latest version of Adobe Flash.
The tablet has a seven-inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. The Galaxy Tab too runs Android 2.2, and supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The device is powered by a Cortex A8 1.0GHz application processor, and HD video content is supported by a wide range of multimedia formats. The tablet also has a 3 megapixel camera on the rear with a flash and auto-focus, and a 1.3 megapixel user-facing camera.
Samsung plans to launch the Galaxy Tab in Europe in mid September, and in other markets including Korea, the U.S. and Asia in coming months. The company said it will let phone operators to determine the price.
However, Apple has a headstart in the tablet computer market. The Cupertino, California-based company has sold more than 3 million units of the iPad in the first 80 days since it was launched in the U.S. in early April.
According to market research firm iSuppli Corp., the iPad is is unlikely to face a viable competitor until 2011, allowing Apple to maintain a dominant share in the tablet market at least through 2012.
The iPad is expected to account for a whopping 74.1% of global tablet shipments in 2010, with the remaining 25.9% consisting of a mix of older PC-type tablet products and competitive slates. Despite the arrival of the first real iPad competitors in 2011, Apple still will maintain a prevailing 70.4% share of shipments, iSuppli noted.
Other companies who are planning their own tablets are said to include Hewlett-Packard CO. (HPQ), LG Electronics Inc. (LGERF.PK) and Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM, RIM.TO), which makes the BlackBerry smartphone.
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