JAPAN: Sony unveils its first tablet computers with Google's Android operating system in a bid to take on Apple's market leading iPad

Record ID: 451661

  • Title: JAPAN: Sony unveils its first tablet computers with Google's Android operating system in a bid to take on Apple's market leading iPad
  • Date: 27th April 2011
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (APRIL 26, 2011) (REUTERS) MORE OF S1 AND S1 BEING DISPLAYED
  • Embargoed: 12th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan, Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Communications,Science / Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVA6MT0O548VC012OQU4NW88Z1LJ
  • Story Text: Sony, a laggard in the booming tablet market, launched its first tablet computers on Tuesday (April 26) in an ambitious attempt to grab the second spot in the market created and dominated by Apple's iPad.
    The gadgets will use an operating system based on Google's Android 3.0, said Kunimasa Suzuki, deputy president of the consumer products and services group, as he unveiled the devices during a media launch in Tokyo on Tuesday.
    The tablets called S1 and S2, are WiFi and 3G/4G compatible.
    S1 has a 9.4-inch display while S2 has two 5.5-inch displays that can be folded.
    "We chose a design that our users can fold and carry easily," Suzuki said.
    The tablets will also allow use of PlayStation games.
    "Both S1 and S2 will begin to be on sale to customers worldwide from the fall of 2011," Suzuki said.
    Sales of tablet devices are expected to quadruple to about 294 million units between 2011 and 2015, with almost half that Android-based, research firm Gartner has forecast.
    Suzuki raised eyebrows in January when he told reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that Sony was aiming for the No.2 spot in the tablet market within a year even though it had yet to put a product on the market.
    The company has emphasised the need to differentiate its tablet from rivals, even if that takes time.
    In a bid to tap that burgeoning demand, competitors including Samsung Electronics -- whose Galaxy Tab is Apple's strongest competitor in the tablet market -- and Motorola, LG Electronics and HTC are flooding the market with tablets running Android.
    Shares in Sony, which unveils its quarterly results on May 26, fell 2.1 percent on Tuesday.
    Questions none
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