In January of this year, Kunimasa Suzuki, deputy president of Consumer Products and Services at Sony Corp. confidently revealed the company’s intention to secure second place behind Apple in the tablet market.
Despite Sony dismissing the challenge of established tablet players such as Samsung, Dell and Motorola—not to mention being massively late to market—the Japanese electronics heavyweight has now unveiled the first wave of tablet devices that it’s clearly pinning its bold ambition upon.
Presently known as the S1 and S2, Sony’s two debut devices both run on Google’s optimised Android operating system (v3.0), support 3G and 4G networks, offer Wi-Fi connectivity, are equipped with on-board cameras, and are compatible with PlayStation videogames.
Although they share certain features, the touch-screen tablets differ wildly in terms of their aesthetic design and form factors, with the 9.4-inch S1 looking much like any other current tablet device, while the S2 is a compact clamshell device with dual 5.5-inch screens.
In assessing the S1 and S2’s chances amid a field already densely populated with rival tablets, analyst Yasuo Nakane of Deutsche Bank suggested Sony has perhaps missed its window of opportunity where deposing second-placed Samsung is concerned.
“Sony should have entered at least when Samsung introduced its first tablet computers,” said Nakane in a Bloomberg report.
“They spent too much time on their own features,” he added. “A quick entry like Samsung [and its Galaxy Tab] was required and I don’t think Sony can catch Samsung this year.”
According to Sony, the S1 and S2 tablets are expected to arrive in the third quarter. Accompanying price points have not yet been divulged.
Despite Sony dismissing the challenge of established tablet players such as Samsung, Dell and Motorola—not to mention being massively late to market—the Japanese electronics heavyweight has now unveiled the first wave of tablet devices that it’s clearly pinning its bold ambition upon.
Presently known as the S1 and S2, Sony’s two debut devices both run on Google’s optimised Android operating system (v3.0), support 3G and 4G networks, offer Wi-Fi connectivity, are equipped with on-board cameras, and are compatible with PlayStation videogames.
Although they share certain features, the touch-screen tablets differ wildly in terms of their aesthetic design and form factors, with the 9.4-inch S1 looking much like any other current tablet device, while the S2 is a compact clamshell device with dual 5.5-inch screens.
In assessing the S1 and S2’s chances amid a field already densely populated with rival tablets, analyst Yasuo Nakane of Deutsche Bank suggested Sony has perhaps missed its window of opportunity where deposing second-placed Samsung is concerned.
“Sony should have entered at least when Samsung introduced its first tablet computers,” said Nakane in a Bloomberg report.
“They spent too much time on their own features,” he added. “A quick entry like Samsung [and its Galaxy Tab] was required and I don’t think Sony can catch Samsung this year.”
According to Sony, the S1 and S2 tablets are expected to arrive in the third quarter. Accompanying price points have not yet been divulged.
Source: thetechherald.com
