Over 50 ARM-based tablets due to hit the market this year
With all the frequent coverage of tablet MIDs across the web and new devices appearing nearly every day, it's been hard to keep track of exactly how many we can expect to see on the market later this year. One person who is in a unique position of having a good idea of what's coming is Roy Chen, ARM's worldwide mobile computing ODM manager. With the majority of tablets using ARM-based processors, the company has an inside view of many upcoming products that use their chips. Following the launch of Apple's iPad early next month, the ARM executive has predicted that over 50 ARM-based tablets will hit the market this year, with the first of these devices being available in the second quarter from mobile network carriers, followed by a larger wave of new tablets in the third quarter.
Mr. Chen also commented that most of these new tablets would originate from China, but added that companies worldwide were looking to get on the tablet bandwagon, including the top 10 telecommunications network operators (no specific companies were named). The tablet invasion has even forced ARM to rent a larger space at the Computex electronics trade show in Taiwan, where we can also expect to see tablets in force much like at CeBIT.
The key questions that I have on my mind are what operating systems will all these tablets be using out of the usual suspects (Android, Windows CE, Android etc.), is the demand really there for all these tablets, and is this mad rush of product development a passing "fad" that will decline by next year, or a true new product category of how more and more people will get online in the future? We would love to hear your thoughts on this.
[Computer World via Liliputing]
