An Android tablet PC from Google and a two-screen slate from Microsoft may join devices from Acer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo to vie with Apple’s iPad.
ByAntone Gonsalves InformationWeek April 13, 2010 08:35 AM
Google and Microsoft are reportedly working on their own slate computers that would challenge Apple’s iPad.
Google chief executive Eric Schmidt told friends about the company’s new device at a recent Los Angeles party, and the company is talking to publishers about delivering books, magazines and other content to the device, The New York Times reported Sunday. The gadget would run exclusively on Google’s Android operating system.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has built a prototype of a slate. The device, called the Courier, is about the size of an average paperback and unfolds to reveal two screens, a Microsoft employee claiming to have seen the device told the Times. Users would be able to write on the screens using a stylus and would be able to drag content between the two screens.
While Microsoft engineers have talked about having the device ready for release by early 2011, no official announcement has been made on whether to sell the computer.
Shipping within a couple of months with the WiFi (802.11n) variant, and a month later for the added AT&T-only 3G capability (a small boo for not opening that up to other carriers).
Light and thin, and borrowing heavily from the iPhone and iTouch, it looks like it could spell trouble for competitors (new iBooks vs the Kindle / Nook, as well as the smartphone / netbook arena).
All eyes are on an Apple iSlate computer unveiling later this month. What is the competition cooking up to stop it in its tracks?
It’s barely two weeks into the new year, and I already have a piece of potential vaporware on my brain: the forever-rumored tablet from Apple. Is this mythical piece of hardware still a lot of talk, with no physical prototype or production model in sight? Yes, but with an event planned for later this month, Apple has many in the mobile computing world on pins and needles about a Unicorn sighting.
Rumors are rumors, but there’s enough evidence and leaked information to say that an Apple tablet or slate device is inevitable, and that such a device will be announced in the very near future. So, if you’ll power on your imagination for a moment, what can we expect from the “iSlate” (Ed. note: that’s what we are calling the Apple product in this article, it’s not an official name by any means)? And just as important, what can we expect from the competition? You won’t see any other tablets or slate PCs running OS X legitimately, but companies like Lenovo, HP, Pegatron, and MSI are totally on board with this tablet idea.
Competition is the eternal fuel on which innovation runs, so while some of these iSlate competitors are very alluring, others are the product of a “me-too” half-baked attempt. Let’s see what the rest of the PC world has to offer.
