According to DigiTimes, Micro-Star International (MSI) has announced plans to launch a $500 tablet PC in the second half of 2010. The device would be based upon the nVidia Tegra processor, and sounds similar to the iPad in overall size and functionality.
Though MSI has made computer parts for some time (I have an MSI wifi card in the desktop PC on which I am writing this post), they are relatively new to the laptop/tablet market. However, this past Christmas I received an MSI notebook as a gift, and have been quite pleased with it.
It will be interesting to see how they do with a tablet.
The story also mentions Asustek launching Asus@Vibe, a digital distribution service that can provide e-books as well as other content.
MSI has been selling a line of Atom-powered convertble Tablet PCs for two years now at around US$699. Their WiND netbooks are well regarded, too.
An MSI tablet is a good idea but this one is the wrong architecture; at $499 they need to do Win7-on-Atom.
MSI is no Apple so if they’re doing an appliance pad they need to put some price clearance between them and Apple. Most of the Linux appliance pads coming out of Taiwan this year are aiming for the US200-300 market to slot below Atom netbooks. MSI should know better.
Then, again, DigiTimes’ track record *is* kinda hit-or-miss in their rumormongering… 😉
Ars Technica has some further details so it may not quite be rumormongering after all.
I am also a bit disappointed at the price. But a lot of the price comes down to quality components, and how much flash storage is included.
And unfortunately for us tightwads, the bottom line is that no Android device will match the iPad for quality of software and integration of the capacitative touch surface, accelerometer, and screen.
My money is on a Tegra-2-based smartpad with some Linux flavor and a Pixel Qi screen, and I’d like one for less than $300. But Notion Ink is the only manufacturer that showed a pad of those specs at CES, and they wouldn’t talk price. Rumors though told of $500, and I would not be surprised, given the $500 base price of the iPad, that Notion Ink execs are scrambling, and trying to get their engineers to come in at $399 or under.
The Motorola reference design smartpad, according to Motorola execs hawking it, should retail for $199; and I remember Mary Lou Jepson saying that devices with the 3Qi screen could retail for that price.
Lots of these are coming, and the ZunePad or smartbooks based on Win Mobile 7 from the Zune folks should be on the market by year’s end. We should know a lot more after next month’s Mobile World Conference in Spain.
pond: Interesting thing about the price. Ars Technica cites a DigiTimes rumor saying that the laptop/netbook OEMs were caught by surprise by Apple setting its base unit price so low.
They’d apparently planned to undercut the expensive Apple tablet by 20-30% and still make some money, but now they’re having to re-evaluate things.
It may be that MSI expected the iPad to start much higher. Stuff happens.
Nonetheless, there are several netbook TabletPCs coming in at $499 with 6-9 hrs battery life. More are coming.
The product hasn’t shipped so there is plenty of time for price adjustment.