The war of Tablet PC market is showing no sign of slow down. After enormous success of Apple’s iPad, companies are gearing up to reserve their Tablet market share and as a result, many Tablet were announced in last few weeks by Microsoft, RIM etc. Now it’s LG electronics who jumped into the competition with an open challenge to Apple and much of worries for others.
LG electronics Inc, which has lagged behind in mobile handset market due to late entry of smartphones, plans to launch a tablet computer globally by the fourth quarter under its Optimus line, said Chang Ma, vice president of marketing for LG’s mobile-devices unit in an interview to WSJ. Over and above company also has plans to launch 10 more smartphones and sell five million devices by the end of the year in a scramble to compete with rivals.
In an interview Mr Ma informed that upcoming LG Tablet will run on Google’s Android software with an ability to create content rather than simply reading. This will set LG Tablet apart from Apple iPad which current has an ability only to read the contents. He said that iPad is a great device undoubtedly but he doesn’t do much work on it. “Our tablet will be better than the iPad.”
The tablet will include content focused on creation such as writing documents, editing video and creating programs. It will also have “high-end features and new benefits,” many of which will focus on productivity, Mr. Ma said.
without revealing its launch plan, Mr Ma said that U.S. will be the key market for LG Tablet. He denied to comment anything on whether any wireless carrier will be involved with the distribution of the product.
Currently LG’s position is very precarious in mobile segment. The third largest handset manufacture is facing tough competition in many geography due to local players. Market shift towards smartphones is also one of the major blow to company for which company was never prepared. Competitors like Apple and HTC have thrown LG much behind in mobile segment by having range of smartphones in market.
According to research firm Gartner, company’s share of the smartphone market was 1.2% in the second quarter which further went down due to 31% decline towards LG’s handset unit in second-quarter sales and swung to its deepest quarterly loss in eight years.
Like other handset manufacturers, LG has bet on Google’s Android operating system to revive its fortunes. With recent strategy shit, LG will relaunch its Optimus smartphone line with its flagship Optimus One through 120 operators. While the phone will be LG’s flagship product, company intends for Optimus One to be a “gateway smartphone” for first-time customers.
Besides all company plans to launch devices using Nvidia Corp.’s dual-core processor in the fourth quarter. It also plans to be aggressive with fourth-generation, or 4G, technology, and build a phone compatible with long-term evolution technology by early next year.
Recently RIM (BlackBerry), also announced about its upcoming Tablet called “BlackPad“. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer revealed that company is working closely with Intel to come out with one of the best tablet PC ever. After LG, its seems that Apple is going to face some tough competition in next coming months when all tablet PCs will be available for customers to have real comparison and ratings.
With all announcements, expectations and strategy it will be interesting to see upcoming quarters from the company prospective which will carry massive strategy move for the company’s mobile unit. However, road-to-success is not going to be a cake walk for the company as competitors will hold everyone from the neck to make sure their own smooth sailing.
Credentials: WSJ
