Tablet? Slate? New devices emerge as Apple looms
written by indianachu
at Saturday, January 9, 2010
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 smartphones and laptops.
They are jockeying for attention ahead of Apple's widely expected announcement of a 10- to 11-inch tablet computer on Jan. 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.
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