olivettiolipadtabletpc-1299283295Sometimes new tablets come from unexpected sources. Engadget reports that typewriter manufacturer Olivetti is the latest to join the parade, announcing its new “OliPad” tablet. The hardware specs seem to be pretty standard: 10” screen, 1024×600, NVIDIA Tegra 2, Android 2.2.2, wifi, 3G, Bluetooth, 1.3 MP camera, and a partridge in a pear tree. However, Olivetti is planning to aim this tablet squarely at business and government users, taking a page from RIM’s book rather than Apple’s.

Even though it is best known for its typewriters, Olivetti is not new to the portable device game. Back in the early days of portable computing, it brought out devices such as the M10, which seem to have been largely forgotten by history. It seems likely this might happen to the OliPad, too. (Though I have to wonder how long it will take Apple to sue over the device’s name including “iPad” in it. It forced WePad to change its name to WeTab, after all.)

4 COMMENTS

  1. The iPad has been adopted in business all across the world and in every sector.
    http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobilize/ipads-business-use-soars-hp-backpedals-slates-fit-260

    The business first label for RIM has always been a misleading one. RIM always ensured business compatibility and security standards so that business would adopt their Blackberries, but they never really had a strategy of relying on business first and then personal because they knew from the beginning that that would not earn them any profits.

    If you look back, from at the 2nd and 3rd iPhone onward and the iPad too, Apple were targeting business in a serious way, with their ‘exchange’ compatibility and promotion of business apps. Their hype was mass market, their technical work was very much business inclusive.

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