Apple iPad Mini Review

story first appeared on usatoday.com

Science fiction version: Mad scientists inside Apple's ultra-secretive lab plunge a recent iPad into boiling stew. What emerges is a near identical but considerably smaller and lighter tablet.

Figure Apple relied on more conventional (if no less secret) lab behavior in designing the iPad Mini that reaches stores Friday. But no matter how the downsized tablet came to be, the natural question is how it differs from its bigger sibling and rival tablets with similar-size small screens, such as the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, Barnes & Noble Nook HD, and Google Nexus 7.

The smaller form changes the way you approach the tablet. I've never hesitated to travel with the bigger iPad. It's terrific for reading, watching movies and playing games on an airplane — but given a choice, before a road trip I would now more likely grab the little guy. It's the right size for immersing yourself in a novel. Held sideways, it's simple to bang out an email with your fingers. Battery life is excellent

A tour of the Mini reveals the usual home button on the bottom front, power button and headphone jack on the top, and volume controls on the side. Front and rear cameras are on either side, just like on the bigger iPad. You're greeted by the customary home screen layout with icons for Safari, Mail, Videos and Music parked at the bottom of the display.

You can even exploit the Siri voice assistant. And the Mini runs iOS 6, the latest iteration of Apple's mobile operating system software.

But it is the multitude of apps — 275,000 optimized for the tablet are available in the Apple App store— coupled with Apple's formidable iTunes ecosystem for music, movies and TV shows that represents a major reason why the iPad, big or small, is still the tablet to beat.

That is not to say that the Kindle Fire HD, Nook HD, and Nexus 7 don't pose strong alternatives to the iPad Mini. Those tablets have starting prices of $199 that undercut the $329 starting price of the Mini that has Wi-Fi only and 16 gigabytes of storage.

Amazon, for one, already is running ads comparing Kindle Fire HD with the Mini — bragging about the Fire's impressive high-definition screen and its stereo speakers. The speakers on the Mini are mono. And its screen, though nice, does not afford the beautiful, super-crisp "retina displays" on the latest larger iPads, iPhones or Macintosh computers. But the Kindle is heavier and has fewer apps.

(Update on Wednesday: Amazon is no longer running the ad. Apple confirms that the Mini does indeed have stereo.)

Prices for the Wi-Fi-only Mini climb to $429 for 32GB and $529 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + Cellular models, available later in the U.S. from AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless, command $459, $559 and $659, respectively. (The unit I've been testing for a week is Wi-Fi only.)

To be sure, the 7.9 inch display on the Mini, vs. 9.7-inches for full-size iPads, gives you a lot less screen real estate to play with. But at a shade under 0.7 pounds and 0.28-inches thick, the paperback-size Mini is 53% lighter and 23% thinner than the newest iPad. It is just wide enough that I was not able to stash it in one inside sport jacket pocket but was able to slip it into another. Compared with the 7-inch screens on some of Kindle, Nook and Nexus devices, though, the iPad Mini is 35% roomier.

Sitting in a cramped airline seat, or lying in bed, I found reading on the Mini to be a generally a more pleasurable experience than reading on the full-size iPad. But though you can now more easily hold a Mini with one hand, I still tended to use two.

Speed: Inside, the iPad Mini has an Apple-designed dual core A5 processor, a version of which powered the iPad 2. But I did detect some sluggishness. At the same time that I was downloading some content in the background, it took several seconds for the screen shots I captured on the device to land in the Photos app. I've never experienced the delay on a bigger iPad.

Cameras: The iPad Mini has two good cameras, including one on the front for doing FaceTime video calls, and a rear 5-megapixel camera that can capture 1080p high-definition video. The quality of FaceTime is related to your network connection, so even in a Wi-Fi environment, I sometimes lost sight of the person at the other end of the call.

Battery life: On the Wi-Fi model, Apple claims 10 hours of battery life while surfing the Web, watching video or listening to music. I was well on my way to confirming that. Nine hours into my test with Wi-Fi on, brightness at 75% and a video playing, I still had about 25% of juice left. But I cut my test short because of a power outage caused by Hurricane Sandy. Apple promises about an hour less battery life on the cellular models.

Connectors: Like the new iPhone 5, and fourth generation iPad announced last week, the Mini makes use of Apple's new Lightning connector. Unless you purchase adapters, you may not be able to use the Mini on some older accessories. Speaking of accessories, Apple has designed a handsome $39 iPad Mini Smart Cover (in one of 6 colors) that magnetically aligns itself to the tablet. It's made with a microfiber lining that Apple says keeps the screen clean.

But in the absence of a USB connector or SD card slot, you'll need pricey $29 Lightning adapter accessories to connect the Mini to a digital camera or to insert a memory card from your camera into the tablet. On older iPads with a 30-pin dock connector camera kit, you got both connectors for $29.

The big picture on the small iPad: Despite a few quibbles and strong competitors in the space, the Mini is a splendid choice for folks who held off buying an iPad because it was too large or too expensive.

Lenovo Tablet Review

Story first appeared in USA TODAY.


Persuading people to embrace a tablet that's not an Apple iPad compels rivals to come at buyers from a different angle. Lenovo's angle is to market a tablet at mobile professionals and students for office or classroom use. As the Chinese computer maker behind the ThinkPad-branded notebooks that are popular in business, Lenovo would appear to have the chops to pull it off.

The result is the ThinkPad Tablet that went on sale recently. I've appreciated many ThinkPad notebooks dating back to the IBM days — Lenovo snagged the ThinkPad franchise from IBM more than six years ago — so I was curious how Lenovo's tablet would measure up. Well, Lenovo has produced a solid machine — one that in the end I liked but didn't love.

Though the design and use of a tablet obviously differ from a laptop, you get the sense that the device was meant to evoke warm feelings from fans of ThinkPad notebooks. It costs $499 for a model with 16 gigabytes of storage, $569 for 32 GB and $669 for 64 GB. All are Wi-Fi-only; Lenovo hasn't announced specifics for versions with cellular connectivity, though a SIM slot is on board.

The tablet fuses business needs with entertainment and runs Android version 3.1 Honeycomb. It's about an inch taller than an iPad 2 and thicker. At 1.65 pounds, it's got some girth — providing space for a full-size USB 2.0 port that is concealed behind a sliding door. (Apple iPad has no USB.) There's also a microUSB port (you can use for charging) and a miniHDMI port for connecting to a high-definition television (at 1080p) and microSD card reader. There are front- and rear-facing cameras but no flash.

ThinkPad has a 10.1-inch multitouch display protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass. The screen didn't wow me. The home screens are a combination of icons, widgets, a carousel app wheel and a so-called Lenovo Launcher for quick access to frequently used apps, but I found the overall software interface to be cluttered and a little confusing. I rarely used the four physical buttons at the bottom of the screen (in portrait mode) for locking the screen, browsing, returning to a previous screen, and returning to the home screen.

As with the iPad, you can browse the Web (including Adobe Flash video, unlike iPad), fire slingshots on Angry Birds or watch a flick via Netflix. Those are among the preloaded apps, joining an app collection that includes Amazon's Kindle app, Amazon MP3, Slacker radio and the Zinio magazine reader. You can, of course, tap into the Android Market to fetch additional apps or browse through a modest selection in Lenovo's own App Shop, a nod to IT managers who might be concerned about viruses turning up on apps purchased elsewhere.

Still, you are drawn to this machine for its serious side. Along those lines, Lenovo supplies free Documents To Go software that lets you create and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files — an app that otherwise costs $14.99 in the Android market. The machine has security and remote access tools aimed at keeping the IT manager at your company happy. A USB file manager app lets you easily drag and organize files from a USB drive onto the tablet.

What stood out for me, though: a pair of optional accessories. For starters, ThinkPad is one of the few modern tablets to take advantage of a pressure-sensitive digitizer pen that you can use to draw, doodle or capture notes in a lecture hall or meeting room. The pen costs $30 at Lenovo.com. Too bad the company didn't include it gratis.

One place to use the pen is in MyScript's Notes Mobile app. You can leave notes in a notebook just as you wrote them or convert your scribbles into text, with more misses than hits in my test. You can also use the pen in Documents To Go.

The other accessory is a $100 keyboard folio that lets you prop up the tablet to use with a physical qwerty keyboard. When you're done, you leave the tablet inside and fold the whole thing up into a neat cover. It's a fine mobile keyboard, even if it doesn't measure up to the ones on ThinkPad notebooks. I was less pleased with the finicky optical Trackpoint that made me long for its eraser-head counterpart on Lenovo notebooks. Lenovo says the machine will last 8.7 hours off a single charge with Wi-Fi turned on. But I got only a little more than six hours in an informal battery test with brightness turned up to the max and a heavy dose of streaming video. The machine should do better under less-taxing conditions.

If you're looking for a tablet that mixes business and pleasure, ThinkPad fits the bill.

Purchases Using Tablets Has Surprising Results

Story first appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

Retailers have found an interesting characteristic of consumers who browse their websites using tablets: They're much more likely to pull the trigger on purchases than other online shoppers.
That discovery is making retailers focus on tablets ahead of the all-important holiday season, as the tough economic backdrop puts a premium on what the industry calls "conversion"—making sure the shoppers who show up actually buy something.
Tablets still account for only a small percentage of overall e-commerce, but they are punching above their weight. While the conversion rate—orders divided by total visits—is 3% for shoppers using a traditional PC, it is 4% or 5% for shoppers using tablets, says Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research.
Many retailers also report that tablet users place bigger orders—in some cases adding 10% to 20% more to the tab—on average than shoppers using PCs or smartphones. Retailers are trying to take advantage of that trend by tweaking their websites to better accommodate tablets and rolling out catalogs that have been developed for the device.
Journal Community
The tablet market is still dominated by Apple Inc.'s iPad. Offerings from new entrants including Amazon.com Inc., which is expected to unveil a tablet Wednesday, could further broaden the market. Forrester Research thinks one-third of U.S. adults could own tablets by 2015.
For most retailers, e-commerce is the fastest growing part of their businesses, posting double-digit revenue gains each year even as in-store growth remains muted. Around 3% of the nearly $150 billion U.S. consumers spent online last year came via mobile devices, of which tablets are a rapidly growing component.

Members of the media examined Sony's new Android-based tablet computers. Tablets account for a small percentage of overall e-commerce, but they are punching above their weight.
While only 9% of online shoppers own tablets, their behavior is encouraging for retailers. Consumers tend to spend more time on the Web after buying a tablet, and nearly half shop from the device, according to a survey of more than 2,300 consumers by Forrester. Tablet owners tend to be wealthier, which gives retailers a self-selected audience of their best customers. They may also be encouraged to spend by less tangible attributes: large touchscreens that draw users into the content, and a portability that helps users get more comfortable than when surfing on PCs.
Macy's, teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and Gap Inc. all say they are seeing the highest percentage of conversions from shoppers using tablets. The companies wouldn't disclose figures.
Blake McCrossin, a public-relations associate in New York, says he thought shopping would be the last thing he would do on his iPad. The 30-year-old has since used the Apple device to order everything from clothes to a flat-screen television and has already finished most of his Christmas shopping using it. "The visuals and graphics are amazing, and I get caught up in impulse buying.
Shopping network QVC promotes tablet use on-air and through its social media channels. It is also using alternative technologies to Flash on its website to accommodate the iPad, which doesn't support that software.
Mobile commerce accounts for about 3% of QVC's revenue, which last year came to $7.8 billion. Tablets are the fastest growing part of mobile and deliver a higher conversion rate than mobile or PC users.
Macy's, which owns its namesake department store as well as Bloomingdale's, began making its sites compatible with devices that don't support Flash this year. The department store owner is rethinking the "point and click" experience of its website, which like most others was designed on the premise that links would be clicked with an arrow controlled by a mouse rather than by a user's finger, which is more blunt.
Many retailers are finding tablet users prefer to visit their main websites directly through a browser, just as they would from a PC, even though some companies have pumped lots of money into creating specialized sites that would work better with mobile phones' small screens and long load times.
Cosmetics chain Sephora uses the same website for tablets as it does for PCs, says Bridget Dolan, Sephora's vice president of interactive media. Sephora also has a free tablet app. QVC also says more tablet users visit directly through its website than via its apps.
Some retailers are revamping their catalogs in light of tablets, which allow them to add videos, slideshows, how-to demonstrations and 'order' buttons. Sephora dropped its summer catalog for the first time this year and shifted entirely over to tablets in an experiment to see what effect it would have on sales. The company will continue to produce print versions of its other seasonal catalogs.
Sephora has partnered with Google Inc. and online shopping site TheFind, both of which have tablet apps that aggregate catalogs from brands such as Nordstrom Inc., Crate & Barrel, Neiman Marcus and Urban Outfitters Inc. Users can swipe through their favorite catalogs and place orders through the free apps.
Siva Kumar, CEO of TheFind, says the conversion rate on its Catalogue app is about 10% higher than on its website, and average order size is between 10% and 20% higher.
Tablet users on average are spending three times as much time on the catalog app than on the website, he says.Sephora receives as much revenue from tablets as it does through mobile, even though people visit Sephora by smartphone much more often. Sephora's tablet conversion rate and average order size is also higher than PC and mobile.

TOUCHPAD IS DISCONTINUED

Story first appeared on ABC News.
When HP announced its most recent quarterly financial results, the company had some shocking news: it would no longer offer its recently released tablet, the Touchpad. HP followed up this unexpected announcement with a closeout sale, with prices at many retailers initially slashed to a mere $99 -- one fifth of the price of the popular iPad 2 or Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Those promotions spurred such demand for the device that it can now be very hard to find.
Of course, many buyers were no doubt opportunists looking to resell at a higher price. If you happen to come across one, though, it may be worth buying and keeping.
The Touchpad's dimensions are very close to those of the original iPad. Unlike the wide screens on many Android tablets, the dimensions of Touchpad's 9.7-inch screen are more like those of a photo. In fact, the Touchpad's controls and jacks -- including volume, power, and the microUSB charging and transfer port -- are arranged so similarly to those of the iPad that some cases designed for the original iPad may fit the HP device very well.
(The Touchpad is significantly thicker than the iPad 2 and lacks the iPad 2's rear-facing camera. That said, it does have a front-facing camera for video chat, as well as tightly integrated support for the popular Skype service.)
But a big part of the story is webOS, the Touchpad's operating system, which made its debut with the Palm Pre and became part of HP when the company purchased Palm about a year ago. The larger screen really allows webOS to perform well -- particularly its innovative system of managing different on-screen cards that can be grouped to keep parts of related tasks together. For example, if you're a singer using a Touchpad rehearse music, you can have several sheets open at once, alongside a media player screen the plays music tracks, so you can hear how a song should sound as you read the music.
Another Touchpad benefit is Just Type, which lets you search a wide range of Web sites and information on the tablet just by tapping an area of the screen and starting to type. The Touchpad also boasts great sound, courtesy of its stereo speakers and Beats Audio interface for headphones. That should come in handy when watching TV shows and movies, a key way consumers use tablets according to the Broadband Video survey by NPD Connected Intelligence.
Unfortunately, while the Touchpad has solid Web and email apps, only a few hundred third-party applications take advantage of the product today, and the system can get bogged down and present messages about having too many cards open. Like Palm before it, HP has had limited success in wooing developers attracted to the high volumes of the iPad and the promise of sleek Android-based competitors.
Making matters worse, HP compounded its problems before the Touchpad's release by changing a key method for developing webOS applications. Now many apps created for older devices simply won't run on the Touchpad, and it may take some time for even wiling developers to come up to speed with the new system. HP says it will continue to encourage developers to create webOS programs, but it will be an even steeper uphill climb than it has in the past, since there is now so much doubt hanging over the webOS operating system.
Even so, HP did offer a number of nifty accessories in its Touchpad lineup, including a custom Bluetooth keyboard and a Touchstone wireless charging dock. The dock allows you to charge the tablet's battery just by placing it against a flat stand, and the tablet can display a clock or photos as its battery refills. If you can make do with the basics of tablet apps while hoping that HP will be able to finally fill out the Touchpad's app gap, you'll enjoy an elegant if occasionally balky tablet experience.

New Tablet To Be Introduced

Story first appeared on eWeek.com.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) could sell anywhere between 3 million and 5 million Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android tablets in the fourth quarter, making it far and away the most successful slate provider on the open-source platform, according to Forrester Research.
The e-commerce giant is expected to introduce a tablet based on Google's Android "Honeycomb" operating system in October. To compete with Apple's iPad, which has sold more than 30 million units to date, Amazon is expected to leverage its expertise in content distribution.
The company will sell applications from its Android Appstore, movies through Amazon Instant Video and MP3 downloads supported by the Amazon Cloud Player storage service for consumption on its media tablet.
Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps, who has first predicted an Amazon tablet in March, said that while she believes the e-tail giant could find success with a tablet, the company would have to price it under $300 and make sure that it has enough devices to meet consumer demand.
Epps' report comes two weeks after Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin said the Amazon tablet might cost $300 to make, but Amazon would discount it by $51 to entice consumers to buy it. Amazon could make up the difference in movie rentals, music downloads, Kindle book sales, other application purchases and advertising.
Amazon, using its one-click buying method as an easy-on-ramp to customers to make purchases through its Android Appstore and regular e-commerce offerings, could make back the $51 difference within six months and make a profit between 10 percent and 30 percent over the last 18 months of the device's accounting period, Bajarin noted.
One interesting caveat to this punditry: Even if the Amazon tablet is built with Google's Android "Honeycomb" operating system, Epps said they shouldn't market it as such. In fact, Amazon might want to take a page out of Barnes & Noble's playbook and play down the Android software on the slate.
Apparently, product strategists from Android tablet OEMs have expressed frustration with the bugginess of the Honeycomb software and the weak user experience of the Android Market.
Only 9 percent of consumers considering buying a tablet actively prefer an Android tablet—compared with 16 percent who prefer iOS and 46 percent who prefer Windows. Barnes & Noble has chosen to emphasize its own brand and user experience on the Nook Color rather than emphasize the Google or Android brands, even though the Nook is built on Android. Amazon may not wish to go that far on the curation spectrum, but it does need to differentiate its flavor of Android from all the rest, and that may come from emphasizing the Amazon experience over the Google one.
On the other hand, the benefit of hitching itself to Android is that Amazon can over time provide its software and services on slates from Samsung, Motorola, Asus, Acer, Toshiba and others.
In a year from now, we could see a range of “Amazon tablets” made by different hardware manufacturers. That is, of course, assuming Apple won't successfully sue to block Android tablet distribution the way it has with Samsung overseas.

MOTOROLA’S PROBLEMS THAT HURT IN THE THIRD QUARTER

Story first appeared in Reuters.
Chief Executive Sanjay Jha said Motorola's Bionic, a high-speed device for Verizon Wireless, would be delayed until September, which was later than analysts had expected for the device whose launch had already been delayed to the summer from its original target for a second quarter launch.
The delay, which also involves a Motorola tablet computer, will put Motorola under ever more pressure to compete with Apple Inc, which is expected to launch a new iPhone this fall at Verizon Wireless.
Analyst Lawrence Harris said tt would have been nice if Motorola had a clear window prior to the release of the new iPhone. Motorola had announced the product on January 5 at the consumer electronics show.
Harris said it's highly unusual to have a product delayed this long. They really had to go back to the drawing board in this, and he noted that many people on Wall Street had hoped for an August launch of the phone.
A high-speed version of Motorola's Xoom tablet, also announced in January, will also be delayed until September, Motorola said. It had also originally slated that product launch for the second quarter.
Gross profit margins will also be worse than expected this quarter, because Motorola was forced to cut the price of its first version of Xoom to compete with rivals such as Apple Inc's iPad and Samsung Electronics's Galaxy Tab.
DELAYS AND PRICE CUT
Motorola cut the price of Xoom to $499 from $799 at Verizon Wireless on July 25 to compete with iPad and tablets like Galaxy as consumers weren't willing to pay a premium for the Motorola device, which like Galaxy is based on Android software from Google Inc. It launched Xoom at Verizon on February 24.
The company gave a third-quarter earnings target ranging from break-even to 10 cents per share, excluding unusual items, compared with analyst expectations for 24 cents a share.
Motorola's full year forecast for 2011 of 48 cents to 60 cents per share missed Wall Street expectations for 71 cents per share.
Jha said he had misjudged pricing in the highly competitive tablet market but vowed that Motorola's profit would be back on track in the fourth quarter, when he promised to introduce more competitive products.
Jha said they now recognize where the price points are. For the fourth quarter they will launch very good, new tablets and we'll have a good quarter.
By year end, Jha promised that Motorola would have five devices based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) -- the high-speed technology both Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc are using.
This will include at least one more LTE handset besides the Bionic and two more tablets besides the LTE version of Xoom, Jha said.
For the second quarter, it reported a loss of $56 million, or 19 cents per share, compared with a profit of $80 million, or 27 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding unusual items Motorola earned 9 cents per share in the quarter, ahead of analyst expectations for 6 cents a share.
Revenue rose to $3.3 billion, beating the average analyst estimate of $3.12 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Motorola said on Thursday it shipped 4.4 million smartphones in the quarter, in line with expectations from six analysts contacted by Reuters. It has also sold 440,000 tablet computers, ahead of analyst expectations for about 366,000.
The company tweaked its full year sales estimate for Android tablets and smartphones to a range of 21 million to 23 million from 20 million to 23 million.
Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc.
Motorola shares fell to $22.01 in after-hours trading, down 3.9 percent for their $22.91 close on the New York Stock Exchange.

TABLETS REPLACE TEXTBOOKS

Story first appeared in USA TODAY.
Outside the classroom a hot summer day beckons, but fourth-grade teacher Yeon Eun-jung's students are glued to their tablet PCs as they watch an animated boy and a girl squabble about whether water becomes heavier when frozen.
The small scene in this rural town is part of something big: South Korea is taking a $2 billion gamble that its students are ready to ditch paper textbooks in favor of tablet PCs as part of a vast digital scholastic network.
France, Singapore, Japan and others are racing to create classrooms where touch-screens provide instant access to millions of pieces of information. But South Korea — Asia's fourth-largest economy — believes it enjoys an advantage over these countries, with kids who are considered the world's savviest navigators of the digital universe.
A 2009 study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-headquartered grouping of wealthy nations, found 15-year-olds in South Korea scored highest in their ability to absorb information from digital devices, beating runners-up New Zealand and Australia by a large margin.
At Sosu Elementary School in Goesan, principal Jo Yong-deuk speaks of a future in which his students interact in virtual reality with Ludwig van Beethoven and Abraham Lincoln. In the classroom, the children scribble answers in their tablet PCs with touchscreen pens as they watch the video clip explaining the scientific properties of frozen water.
More than 60 primary, middle and high schools are now using digital textbooks as part of their curriculum, according to the state-run Korea Education and Research Information Service, which provides technical support for the program. Seoul believes it can finish the $2.1 billion program to build a single computer network packed with high-quality digital content by 2015. Replacing textbooks with tablet PCs will account for a quarter of that budget.
According to South Korean officials, France is handing out tablets in the Correze region and is pushing to expand digital material, while Japan began distributing tablet PCs in a primary school last year under a pilot program. Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore said on its website that Singapore began adopting tablet PCs in 2004.
But Kim Doo-yeon, a South Korean official leading the project, said his country will have no trouble competing.
South Korea is one of the most wired places on earth. More than 80 percent of South Korean households have broadband access to the Internet, according to the statistical office here. U.S. Web hosting company Akamai said earlier this year that South Korea enjoys the fastest Internet connection in the world. South Korea also ranks first in wireless broadband subscriptions, according to an OECD release last month.
Lee Sang-hyeob, a student at Sosu Elementary School, spends a lot of time at home playing online games and chatting with schoolmates. Another Sosu student, Jang Woo-dam, often surfs her school's website to see messages from friends.
The 2009 OECD study says there's a positive relationship between students' use of computers at home for leisure and their digital navigation skills. Proficient digital readers tend to know how to navigate effectively and efficiently.
The study said students who read online more frequently also read a greater variety of print material and report higher enjoyment of reading itself.
Another telling example of the influence of the Internet on this nation of 50 million is the number of so-called PC rooms, or Internet cafes, which stood at 15,000 as of December last year, according to the PC room business association.
PC rooms, which usually operate around the clock, have long been the breeding ground for South Korea's so-called professional e-gamers, whose popularity has given birth to an industry dedicated to airing their matches and promoting high-tech gadgets through them.
Enchanted with games, Jeong Yu-jin, 16, has been teaching himself programming since he was a child and is now developing a game that warns of the consequences of global warming as a player clears stages filled with challenges like angry polar bears and crumbling glaciers.
Kim, the South Korean official leading the tablet PC project, said the country envisions a digital scholastic network for students to go beyond digital textbooks and national boundaries. In the future, all their students will be connected to a single computer network that allows them to also learn from teachers in other countries.
Loaded with video, animation, photos, voices, songs and Web documents created by experts and by teachers and students, digital textbooks allow students to enjoy a custom-made learning experience, Kim said. Kids who fall behind in a regular curriculum can start from levels they feel comfortable with.
Young North Korean defectors struggling to adapt to South Korea could also benefit from having tablet PCs. More than 21,000 North Koreans, including children, have come to South Korea since the two countries' 1950-53 war. Many choose to study in special schools to catch up before they attend regular ones.
Those who study digital technology and education have been generally positive about introducing digital textbooks, but there have also been warnings that Internet addiction may deepen among South Korea's teenagers.
The number of students addicted to the Internet amounted to 782,000, or 12% of the total student population, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security said last year. The government, worried by the problem, plans to increase the number of counselors dealing with Internet addiction to 5,500 next year.

MISCROSOFT BRAND TABLET?

Microsoft is considering launching its own-brand tablet PC that features Windows 8 by the end of 2012 with cooperation from Texas Instruments and Taiwan-based OEMs/ODMs. Companies like Microsoft are considering all kinds of things like dell deals, but that doesn't mean it will happen.
Intent isn't the same as execution, but in the case of a Microsoft branded tablet it should be. Microsoft cannot stay out of the tablet market any longer - as provider of hardware, software and supporting services. Apple has seized control of a category Microsoft pioneered. In a few months, iCloud will transform how Apple customers use tablets and other iOS devices, using push rather than pull for data synchronization. Microsoft must launch its own tablet, regardless of potential channel conflict with its OEM partners.
At the least, the Microsoft tablet could be to its partners what the Nexus smartphone series is for Google. The Google-branded phone offers a hardware baseline for its OEM partners and stable platform always running the newest version of Android for its developers. Google sells the smartphone, too -- and that's a smart way of courting the enthusiast market and getting its brand inside retail stores. Google should go further, and release its own branded tablet.
There's precedent, for Microsoft, strangely. During PDC 2009, Microsoft gave away thin and light laptops is had designed with Acer. Microsoft designed the laptop with features and baseline hardware for which developers should create their applications. Touchscreen was among the capabilities. At the time, Microsoft struggled with netbooks sapping Windows revenues - they were selling so well running cheaper versions of the operating system. Microsoft's PDC attendee laptop giveaway was a brilliant response to the netbook problem. The company had talked about thin and light laptops as better alternative to netbooks - and for good reasons. Thin and light laptops offer many of the size and weight advantages of netbooks but with hardier hardware performance, better customer experience and greater operating system margins for Microsoft.
That laptop set a baseline for developers, and other OEM partners. The strategy paid off in many ways. For example, Samsung released the Series 9 thin and light laptop, which is prominently displayed at the Microsoft Store in San Diego. Last week, Intel announced a new laptop category, Ultrabook, which is thin and light but also takes on some characteristics of media tablets. IBM memory upgrades may be necessary. Microsoft set the bar for thin and light laptops, and partners responded. But the bar could have been lower by actually releasing a branded model for sale to businesses and consumers.
With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft chose a different approach, by establishing a minimum hardware set of standards for OEMs to follow. They did just that - the minimum. What Microsoft really needed was its own smartphone leading the way for partners and setting a baseline for developers. Microsoft’s partnership with Nokia may be the next best thing - or perhaps better.
For tablets, there are few reasons why Microsoft shouldn't go further like to release a Microsoft branded tablet with Windows 8. But 2012 is just too long to wait.
Tablets aren't a new category, by any means. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates tried to jumpstart it in 2000. He introduced the "Tablet PC" concept running Windows and using a stylus. The first tablets, based on Windows XP, shipped two years later. For nearly eight years after, the category nudged forward and stalled; it was niche, not mainstream. Then 14 months ago, Apple started selling iPad, which was a surprising success - certainly more than analysts predicted. The tablet market was declining until Apple set it off with its iPad.
This week, at Apple's annual developer conference, iOS software, announced 25 million iPads sold in just 14 months. That may not seem like much now, considering 84.3 million PCs shipped in their first quarter. But the analysts also identified media tablets as cannibalizing PC sales.
Low prices for consumer PCs, which had long stimulated growth, no longer attracted buyers. Instead, consumers turned their attention to media tablets and other consumer electronics. With the launch of the iPad 2 in February, more consumers either switched to buying an alternative device, or simply held back from buying PCs.
It's time Microsoft made the hard decision about tablets. Is it going to roll over and be gutted by Apple and maybe even Android tablets? Or is it going to fight back and show leadership to its enterprise customers, developers and OEM partners? Software isn't enough. It's time for a brand Microsoft tablet, with supporting software and cloud services, too.

Intel Looks beyond Chips to next big Computing Experience

Computer World

 

Executives at Intel, the world's largest chip maker, are rethinking the way they pick technologies to develop -- and they're looking at ideas beyond the computer chip. It's a big step for a company that has made its fame by focusing on processors. In recent months, Intel has announced that it's buying security software company McAfee for $7.68 billion and Infineon's wireless chip unit for $1.4 billion. With these acquisitions, the company is getting into the security business -- and giving itself a better footing in the mobile computing market.

In an interview with Computerworld, Intel CTO Justin Rattner talked about taking Intel in a new direction, coming up with the idea for Google TV and the future of tablets and netbooks. Excerpts from that interview follow:

It sounds like you're making some major shifts inside Intel. What's going on? The commitment to chips is still there. For most of Intel's history, we were driven by what could be done instead of what should be done. A few developments at Intel caused us to rethink the company.

OK, so what caused this rethinking? It was our work on smart TV; emerging markets and the Classmate, and our work in digital health.... All three are driven by how people relate to the technology. For instance, how do kids feel about technology? What do they like? What do they not like? How do you make it fit? Instead of putting a PC down in front of them and saying, 'Look, it's Windows 7.' We wanted to see what they need.

So are you rethinking the way you decide what technologies are developed? I think very much so. We've seen that it's no longer the best technology that prevails in the marketplace. It's not the camera or the number of pixels or megabytes of memory. It's if I enjoy the device or am I constantly at odds with my device.

But why move beyond chips? The company wants to grow beyond the PC business. As we move out into areas like phones and TV and health, we're not so constrained. We developed a smart TV design. We had a specific experience in mind and then built the silicon for the experience.

Are you saying that Intel came up with the idea for Google TV? Intel designed the Google TV experience and took it to Google. Google said that's not the experience we've been thinking about, but that's the silicon we need. By thinking of the experience, it affects the building of the silicon. We actually know the experience we're trying to create and then we build the right silicon.

So what's the next computing experience that Intel engineers are working on now? Context-aware devices. We're talking about what it means for a device to be context aware and that changes the relationship between user and owner. We want to give these machines the ability to fuse the hard senses (like where you are and are you dancing or riding a bike?) and soft sensor information, like your calendar, your to-do list and your social networks.

How could context-aware devices change the way we live day to day? When I get in the car in the morning, I want a screen to come up and tell me there's construction on Rte. 26 or it's going to rain. Go back in the house for a hat and umbrella. Context is really about life. These devices [today] know very little about our lives.

How will social networking fit into this vision of context-aware devices? Social networking becomes part of this soft sensor notion.... It will be a key source of information for your devices. Who are your friends? What are you doing? We think a lot about it. Your social network will be used by your devices to know you've got an interview with Justin and it can tell your friends and colleagues that you're talking with Justin.

Since we're talking about devices, what do you think about the future of the tablet, the netbook and the notebook? We haven't reached the ultimate evolution of the tablet. It's somewhere between the notebook of today and the iPad.

Laptop Sales Sapped by Tablet Frenzy

The Wall Street Journal

The boom in laptop computer sales is losing some steam, and not only because of a still-sluggish economy. Some shoppers are spending their money on Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet rather than the low-priced laptops that have fueled sales in recent years.

One is Vanessa Cole, a 31-year-old sales representative in Detroit, whose husband bought her an iPad as a gift in April. She had considered getting a low-priced laptop but said she prefers the iPad "for the bigger screen and apps" even though the tablet cost more at $499.

Analysts expect Apple to sell 11 million to 12 million iPads this year, more than double many initial estimates, and reach 20 million next year. Samsung Electronics Inc., Dell Inc. and other companies are racing to introduce their own tablets.

The tablet frenzy contrasts with some indicators for laptops. NPD Group estimates that laptop unit sales in U.S. retail channels rose 12.3% in the first eight months of the year—well below 30% growth of the year-earlier-period—and were down 1% in July and August, the peak of the important back-to-school shopping season.

Big computer chip suppliers, Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., have recently warned of weak consumer demand and lowered their revenue forecasts for the third quarter.

Market researcher Gartner has trimmed its global forecasts for laptop shipments, but still expects a 26% increase to 214 million units this year. The firm says the average selling price of portable PCs has fallen 6% to $668 from $710 a year ago.

"Laptops are not the blazing growth category they were five years ago, but they're not going away either," Staples Inc. Chief Executive Ronald Sargent said in an interview. "For business use, you are still going to need a laptop."

IPad sales remain just a fraction of total portable computer sales, but industry executives expect the competition for consumer dollars to become more important next year, as more tablet options emerge.

The biggest impact so far appears to be on "netbook" computers, which run the same software as conventional laptops but have smaller displays and typically cost less than $400. Asustek Computer Inc. helped establish the category in 2007, but most major manufacturers offer models now.

Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini said in a recent interview that netbook growth is now "sloping off." The Consumer Electronics Association predicts U.S. retail sales of netbooks, which more than doubled last year, will decline 12% this year.

A shift in consumer preferences is evident in actions by retailers such as Best Buy Co., the nation's largest retail chain by revenue. The company has begun showcasing e-readers, tablets and mobile devices in its most prominent store displays.

Brian Dunn, Best Buy's chief executive, said in an interview following its second-quarter earnings that the iPad was cannibalizing sales of "portable and netbook" computers by as much as 50%. The company later said Mr. Dunn intended to refer only to netbooks, not laptop computers generally, stressing that he was citing a rough internal estimate.

People in the PC camp, such as Mr. Otellini, argue tablets are a new category that will complement rather than substitute laptops.

"It's way too early to say" whether tablets will eat into sales of other products, said Steven McArthur, a senior vice president at Hewlett-Packard Co. "Clearly there will be some overlap," he said, but H-P's "data show it won't be huge."

Both netbooks and tablets have been promoted with a similar pitch: that many consumers only need a simple device for surfing the Web and enjoying Internet content. Apple's device pushes the notion the furthest, dispensing with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system and a keyboard.

But some customers say they don't mind. Meghan Allen, a 31-year old New York resident said she has been using her iPad as her primary computing device since she received it as gift in June.

"I carry it around everywhere," Ms. Allen said, adding that she has stopped using her MacBook laptop. She liked her iPad so much she persuaded her husband to buy another one for himself.

Jeff Woelker, a 30-year old Chicago resident said he is trying to decide between a netbook and an iPad for his wife. Mr. Woelker is currently leaning toward a more affordable netbook, because "with how obsolete technology gets, why invest a ton of money? Why not invest the cheapest you can get because you're probably going to invest in another one in six months" Mr. Woelker wants a tablet computer for himself, but is planning to wait until Samsung's Galaxy Tab comes out.

Tablets are far from the only factor weighing on laptop sales. Some consumers view used laptops as a commoditized necessity, rather than sexy or stylish.

"Unless you are a gamer or have some special need for horsepower, you may not see a reason to upgrade what you have," said Stephen Baker, NPD's chief electronics analyst.

Mr. Baker, who recently conducted a survey examining the impact of the iPad, said the research suggests a substantial but far less sizable impact from Apple's device: roughly 13% of iPad buyers would otherwise have purchased a new PC.

"It's not a number to sneeze at, but it's obviously not the only reason the PC market went south," he said.

Consumers will have even more tablet choices to consider next year, which Mr. Baker and others expect to add pressure on laptop sales. Research in Motion Ltd., Samsung, Acer Inc., Toshiba Corp. and Dell have all announced tablets.

Meanwhile, some retailers and manufacturers trying to spur demand by creating specialized discount laptops. For example, Best Buy and Toshiba recently unveiled a laptop—dubbed the Kids PC—that is designed for children ages five to 10.

The computer, which will sell for around $500, features a rubberized spill-resistant keyboard with large letters and comes pre-loaded with the Lego Batman videogame as well as digital copies of the movies "Toy Story 2" and "The Princess and the Frog."

But the creators acknowleged the shape of such offerings may be changing; among the future collaborations being considered, said Toshiba executive Jeff Barney, is a kids' tablet computer.

Kno Offers a Second, Lighter Tablet

NY Times

 

Most of the companies that hope to take on Apple in the white-hot market for tablets are industry giants like Dell, Google, HP, Microsoft and Samsung. But among the startups looking to become tablet contenders, Kno stands out.

I first wrote about Kno in June, when the company unveiled a dual-screen tablet aimed at college students. The knock against the chunky, 14-inch screen was its heft; it weighs 5.5 pounds, or nearly four times more than Apple’s iPad, and each slab was more than half an inch thick.

It seems as if the criticism was heard. On Monday, months before the first tablet, called the Kno, will ship, the company is unveiling a second model. The new Kno is a single-screen version of the previous device. Both are expected to begin shipping in December.

“From the college perspective, the overwhelming feedback is that the dual panel is great, but some students think a single panel is better for them,” said Osman Rashid, a founder and the chief executive of Kno. “At the end of the day, we don’t want to lock anyone out of our system because of form factor.” Mr. Rashid said the single-panel model is likely to appeal to the K-12 market in particular.

Kno’s mission is to create not only hardware, but also a software system geared for students that will allow them to read textbooks, take notes and perform other tasks. The software system is expected to work not only on Kno’s tablets, but also on PCs, iPads and other devices.

Shedding half its bulk and weight is certainly a move in the right direction for Kno.

Among the tablet’s biggest fans is Marc Andreessen, the Netscape founder who is now a venture capitalist and a director at eBay, Facebook, Hewlett-Packard and Skype. Mr. Andreessen recently led a $46 million round of financing for Kno. That brought the total raised by the startup to $55 million.

Whether that is enough to help Kno break into the tablet market remains to be seen.

Dell CEO flashes 7-inch Android Tablet Computer

Associated Press

Dell is working on a 7-inch tablet that runs Google's Inc.'s Android operating software.

 

Not much else is publicly known about the computer. Dell Inc. CEO Michael Dell flashed it briefly Wednesday at Oracle's annual conference in San Francisco, but offered no hard details. Dell Inc. spokesman Matthew Parretta declined to say when the prototype would go on sale.

Dell is just one of many consumer electronics companies scrambling to crack the computer industry's most compelling new niche. Apple Inc.'s iPad proved consumers are interested and willing to pay - the company sold 3.3 million in the first quarter iPads were available. Some analysts say iPads have already started eating away at laptop sales.

Just as Apple's iPhone set the bar for the smart phone industry, the iPad, with its 9.7-inch screen, is now the reference point for future tablets, making it harder for companies with a different vision to compete.

Dell's first move in the modern tablet space was a much smaller gadget called the Streak, which went on sale in August. It has a 5-inch screen and runs a version of Android; it can also make phone calls on AT&T's network.

The Streak got a chilly reception, with critics saying the device was too awkward to use as a giant phone and too small to use as a computer. The response highlights another of the industry's biggest challenges: resolving the identity crises that crop up when devices try to do too many things at once.

Motorola's Tablet will Miss the Holidays

The Wall Street Journal

 

Motorola Inc. aims to deliver a tablet computer early next year, a move that will extend its products beyond cellphones but after the key holiday selling season.

"We want to make sure that any tablet that we deliver is competitive in the marketplace, and I think all of us will make sure that we will only deliver that when that occurs," Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha said late Wednesday at an investor conference. "Hopefully, that's early next year."

Apple Inc.'s success with its new iPad have made tablets a must-have offering for gadget makers. Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to unveil its seven-inch Galaxy Tab to the U.S. market at an event Thursday in New York City. Dell Inc. has recently launched a tablet in the U.S., and others are expected ahead of the holidays.

Mr. Jha has tried to turn around Motorola's troubled cellphone business by refocusing it on smartphones powered by Google Inc.'s Android operating system.

Google has made clear it doesn't think the latest version of Android, called Froyo, is appropriate for tablet devices, Mr. Jha said Wednesday, adding that he wouldn't roll out a tablet until the technology is ready.

Mr. Jha said he's eager to get into the tablet business, but also indicated he is thinking more broadly about new forms of mobile computing, hinting that he is interested in models that are "even more smartphone-centric."

AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Said to Plan Samsung Tablet to Rival IPad

Bloomberg

 

AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless plan to sell a tablet computer from Samsung Electronics Co. to rival the iPad, said three people familiar with the matter.

AT&T and Sprint plan to offer the device, called the Galaxy Tab, for less than Samsung’s wholesale price by bundling it with monthly wireless service contracts, two people said. Samsung, the world’s second-largest maker of mobile phones, is scheduled to announce the carriers’ support at a Sept. 16 event in New York, said the people said, who asked not to be named because the plans aren’t public.

Subsidies may help tablets such as the Galaxy stand out against Apple Inc.’s iPad, which starts at $499. Verizon Wireless hasn’t yet decided on such subsidies, said one person.

“The carrier-subsidized model would be very interesting,” said Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw. “The market is going to be very crowded.”

Several companies including Hewlett-Packard Co. and LG Electronics Inc. are introducing tablet computers following the success of the iPad, a 9.7-inch touch-screen that acts as an e- reader, media player, word processor and calendar. The PCs access the Web through data plan contracts that represent the fastest-growing source of sales for the carriers.

Ashley Zandy, an AT&T spokeswoman; Cristi Allen, a Sprint spokeswoman; Jeffrey Nelson, a Verizon Wireless spokesman, and Ashley Lane, spokeswoman for Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung, declined to comment.

First in Europe

The Galaxy tablet goes on sale in Europe in October, before the U.S., and the company has plans for more of the devices next year, WP Hong, Samsung’s head of global planning, said at a electronics conference in Berlin this month.

The device, based on Google Inc.’s Android operating system, has a 7-inch screen and is able to play high-definition videos. The Galaxy has a global-positioning system, cameras on each side for video calling and acts as a mobile phone.

Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry smartphones, plans to introduce a tablet in November, people familiar with the plans have said. Motorola Inc., which makes Android-based smartphones, is also planning a tablet device for the holiday season, people familiar with the matter had said.

“I don’t think any of them are going to seriously challenge Apple for the lead over the holiday season at this point,” said Rhoda Alexander, an analyst at researcher iSuppli. “From a manufacturing standpoint, it would be a huge hurdle unless they’re going to start out of the gate at the volume that Apple is doing -- which would be risky at best.”

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, sold more than 3 million iPads in the first 80 days after it went on sale. To compete, tablet makers will have to offer something unique that the iPad doesn’t have, or cut their prices, Alexander said in an interview.

Toshiba to Launch New Tablet Computer

The Wall Street Journal

TOKYO—Toshiba Corp. said Friday that it will release by year-end a tablet computer that runs on Google Inc.'s Android operating system, as the Japanese electronics maker aims to grab a chunk of a fast-growing tablet device market spearheaded by Apple Inc.'s iPad.

The company said it will sell the Folio 100 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It has yet to decide whether to launch it in other regions such as the U.S. or Japan, a company spokeswoman said.

Toshiba is among many electronics manufacturers around the world looking to ride the wave of demand that has swelled with the iPad. Samsung Electronics Co. Thursday unveiled the Galaxy Tab, which also runs on the Android software. Sharp Corp. in July showed off prototypes of a tablet it hopes will be the "iPad made in Japan," and plans to officially unveil the new product later this month.

"The market for tablet devices like the iPad is attracting a lot of consumer attention," said the Toshiba spokeswoman.

The Folio 100 is not Toshiba's first tablet computer. The Japanese company unveiled a touch-screen tablet called the JournE Touch last September and started selling it in Europe in March, before Apple started selling the iPad in April.

The JournE Touch runs on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system, so the new Folio 100 will be Toshiba's first Android-based tablet.

The Folio 100 is equipped with a 10.1-inch multi-touch display and an embedded webcam. Unlike the iPad, the Toshiba tablet supports Adobe Flash for viewing videos on the Internet.

Toshiba expects the model that can connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi networks to sell for 399 euros. The company has yet to decide when it will launch another model with 3G connectivity.

Still, despite the new tablets from Samsung, Toshiba and other major electronics makers, U.S. market research firm iSuppli expects the iPad to continue to control the global tablet market at least through 2012.

Citing an absence of competitors offering applications and content that can match those of Apple, iSuppli forecasts that the iPad will account for 74.1% of global tablet shipments in 2010. Even after rivals beef up their tablet offerings and related services, iSuppli expects that the iPad will still hold 61.7% of the market in 2012.

Motorola, Verizon Team Up For TV Tablet Tied To FiOS Service-FT

Financial Times

 

Motorola is developing a digital tablet device that will allow users to watch television on it, as the US mobile phone group attempts to chip away at a market established by Apple’s popular iPad.

The device, which will have a 10-inch screen and operate on Google’s Android software, could launch as early as this autumn in the US.

It was expected to tie closely to Verizon’s FiOS digital pay-television service, people briefed on the plans said. Motorola also manufactures the TV set-top boxes for the FiOS television service.

The tablet market is seen as the next battle ground in the mobile devices war that has pit myriad device makers and Microsoft, Google and Research in Motion against Apple.

The iPad has become a hit for Apple, lifting the company from number seven to number three in the worldwide market for notebooks and other portable computers, according to Deutsche Bank.

The Motorola tablet’s integration with TV is a key competitive advantage against rival developers.

But the company that invented the cell phone has made no secret of its exploration of a market resurrected by the iPad.

By working with Verizon Wireless, which owns a 25 per cent share of the US television market where it operates and a 29 per cent share of broadband customers, Motorola will not be seen as upsetting the lucrative business of pay TV.

Sanjay Jha, chief executive of of the Illinois-based company’s mobile devices business, said in May Motorola was exploring tablet options using Google’s Android smartphone software.

“We’re very focused on participating in this convergence between mobility and home, and I actually think you will see some products from us in a very short period of time,” he said, without providing details.

Months ahead of the iPad’s launch this year, Apple failed to convince TV programmers to either lower the price of TV show sales or sell a package of the top shows that was seen undercutting traditional TV pay models.

In spite of Apple’s robust sales of tablets and phones, devices running Google’s Android operating system secured a 27 per cent market share in the US in the first six months of the year, ahead of iPhone’s 23 per cent share, according to audience tracking group Nielsen.

Like a flood of tablets set to hit the market, Motorola’s device aims to address other perceived weaknesses of the iPad.

It will support Adobe Flash, the software that underpins some 90 per cent of web videos. Apple has backed an alternative standard, HTML 5, on its iPhone and iPad devices.

Motorola’s device is expected to be thinner and lighter than the iPad and to let users share its wireless data connection with nearby devices.

It will be built with two cameras, one for taking photos and the other facing the user for video conferencing.

Motorola, Google and Verizon declined to comment.

RIM Said to Plan Tablet for November to Take on Apple's IPad

Bloomberg

 

Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, plans to introduce a tablet computer in November to compete with Apple Inc.’s iPad, according to two people familiar with the company’s plans.

The device will have roughly the same dimensions as the iPad, which has a 9.7-inch diagonal screen, said the two people who wouldn’t be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. The device will include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology that will allow people to connect to the Internet through their BlackBerry smartphones, the two people said.

RIM is racing to come out with a product to rival the iPad in the fast-growing market for devices that bridge the gap between smartphones and notebook computers. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, last month said it sold 3 million iPad tablet computers in 80 days after they debuted in the U.S.

“They can’t wait for a second generation of devices from Apple or they’ll fall too far behind,” said Ashok Kumar, an analyst with Rodman & Renshaw Inc. in New York.

RIM rose $1.83, or 3.3 percent, to $57.53 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, reversing an earlier decline of as much as 2.5 percent. The stock has dropped 15 percent this year, as Apple has climbed 22 percent.

Marisa Conway, a spokeswoman for RIM, declined to comment, citing company policy not to comment on rumor or speculation.

Blackpad Pricing

RIM plans to call the tablet Blackpad, according to one of the people familiar with the company’s plans. RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, acquired the Internet rights to blackpad.com this month, according to the Whois database of domain names.

Pricing for the device will be in line with the iPad, which starts at $499, the person said. RIM is focused on reaping additional profits from the tablet effort, rather than competing on price to sell a large number of devices, the person said.

RIM is stepping up its competition with Apple on multiple fronts. The company is hosting an event in New York Aug. 3 at which it will debut its BlackBerry 9800 slider phone, according to one person familiar with its plans. The device will feature a full touchscreen like Apple’s iPhone and a slideout Qwerty keyboard to allow for easy e-mail typing, the person said.

RIM plans to use the phone to regain the market share it has lost recently to its U.S. rival. RIM’s share of the smartphone market fell to 19.4 percent of global shipments in the first quarter from 20.9 percent a year earlier, according to researcher IDC, based in Framingham, Massachusetts. Apple claimed 16.1 percent of the smartphone market, up from 10.9 percent a year earlier.

Uphill Battle?

In the tablet market, RIM will have to demonstrate how its device can stand out against products including the iPad, which has attracted buyers because of its integration with Apple’s iTunes service and many software applications, or apps. More than 225,000 apps are available for Apple devices, the company said in June. RIM said in April it had more than 6,000 apps.

“With the success of the iPad, RIM faces an uphill battle,” said William Power, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co., who has a “neutral” rating on the stock. “RIM really has yet to demonstrate that it can roll out touchscreen technology to match the leaders in the space, most noticeably Apple.”

RIM’s tablet will capitalize on the BlackBerry’s e-mail capabilities and the phone’s popularity with corporate users, one person said. The tablet will be closely integrated with the smartphone’s e-mail system and will have similar security for messaging, the person said.

Cameras for Video

Wi-Fi would allow the device to connect to the Internet anywhere the wireless technology is available, including a home, office or coffee shop. When not near such Wi-Fi “hotspots,” people could connect wirelessly to their mobile phone with Bluetooth and then to the Internet. The device will not be able to connect directly to the cellular network the way some iPads can, the two people said.

The RIM tablet will also have front- and back-facing cameras for videoconferencing, Rodman & Renshaw’s Kumar said, citing sources at suppliers in Asia.

“I don’t think it’s a zero-sum game,” he said, saying that innovation by Apple, RIM and other competitors will increase the size of the tablet market.

Hewlett-Packard Co., which bought smartphone maker Palm Inc. this month, said it plans to produce a tablet device that runs on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system. Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. said this month it plans to introduce a tablet computer in the fourth quarter that runs on Google Inc.’s Android software. Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said yesterday the software company plans to increase its focus on tablets.

Ballmer: Tablet coming 'As Soon as We Can'

Associated Press

 

Microsoft will compete with Apple's iPad, but it isn't saying when.

Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer says the company is working with Intel Corp. and computer makers to perfect tablet touch-screen computers.

Analysts attending an annual meeting at Microsoft headquarters on Thursday got few concrete details. Ballmer did say Windows tablets will use Intel processors for the foreseeable future.

Ballmer said, "We'll be in market as soon as we can."

But he added that whether it's "really, really soon, or just really, pretty soon, I'm going to wait until I have a device I want to hand you and tell you to go use."

Ballmer says Apple Inc. has "done an interesting job" with the iPad, and says Apple has sold more of the devices than he would like.

India Unveils Prototype $35 Tablet Computer

Associated Press

 

MUMBAI, India (AP) - It looks like an iPad, only it's 1/14th the cost: India has unveiled the prototype of a $35 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011.

If the government can find a manufacturer, the Linux operating system-based computer would be the latest in a string of "world's cheapest" innovations to hit the market out of India, which is home to the 100,000 rupee ($2,127) compact Nano car, the 749 rupees ($16) water purifier and the $2,000 open-heart surgery.

The tablet can be used for functions like word processing, web browsing and video-conferencing. It has a solar power option too - important for India's energy-starved hinterlands - though that add-on costs extra.

"This is our answer to MIT's $100 computer," human resource development minister Kapil Sibal told the Economic Times when he unveiled the device Thursday.

In 2005, Nicholas Negroponte - co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab - unveiled a prototype of a $100 laptop for children in the developing world. India rejected that as too expensive and embarked on a multiyear effort to develop a cheaper option of its own.

Negroponte's laptop ended up costing about $200, but in May his nonprofit association, One Laptop Per Child, said it plans to launch a basic tablet computer for $99.

Sibal turned to students and professors at India's elite technical universities to develop the $35 tablet after receiving a "lukewarm" response from private sector players. He hopes to get the cost down to $10 eventually.

Mamta Varma, a ministry spokeswoman, said falling hardware costs and intelligent design make the price tag plausible. The tablet doesn't have a hard disk, but instead uses a memory card, much like a mobile phone. The tablet design cuts hardware costs, and the use of open-source software also adds to savings, she said.

Varma said several global manufacturers, including at least one from Taiwan, have shown interest in making the low-cost device, but no manufacturing or distribution deals have been finalized. She declined to name any of the companies.

India plans to subsidize the cost of the tablet for its students, bringing the purchase price down to around $20.

"Depending on the quality of material they are using, certainly it's plausible," said Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at Forrester Research. "The question is, is it good enough for students?"

Profitability is also a question for the $35 machine.

Epps said government subsidies or dual marketing - where higher-priced sales in the developed world are used to subside low-cost sales in markets like India - could convince a manufacturer to come on board.

This and similar efforts - like the Kakai Kno and the Entourage Edge tablets - show that there is global demand for an affordable device to trim high textbook costs, she said.

If it works, Epps predicts the device could send a shiver of cost-consciousness through the industry.

"It puts pressure on all device manufacturers to keep costs down and innovate," she said.

The project is part of an ambitious education technology initiative by the Indian government, which also aims to bring broadband connectivity to India's 25,000 colleges and 504 universities and make study materials available online.

So far nearly 8,500 colleges have been connected and nearly 500 web and video-based courses have been uploaded on YouTube and other portals, the Ministry said.

Verizon, Google Working on Tablet

PC Mag

Verizon Wireless is working on a tablet with Google, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

 

"We're looking at all the things Google has in its archives that we could put on a tablet to make it a great experience," Verizon Wireless chief executive Lowell McAdam told the Journal.

A Google spokesman did not address the specific rumor about a Google-Verizon tablet, and said that its Android platform could be used for a variety of things.

"Android is a free, open source mobile platform. This means that anyone can take the Android platform and add code or download it to create a mobile device without restrictions," he said in a statement. "The Android smartphone platform was designed from the beginning to scale downward to feature phones and upward to MID and netbook-style devices. We look forward to seeing what contributions are made and how an open platform spurs innovation, but we have nothing to announce at this time."

"We're letting Lowell's comments speak for themselves on this one," a Verizon spokeswoman said in an e-mail.