Tablets set to dominate CES 2011
Tablets look set to hog the headlines at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Industry watchers expect 100 or more of the portable gadgets to be shown off at the four-day technology extravaganza.
The devices are part of a trend towards greater mobility and smarter living that are starting to define some parts of the market in 2011. Early estimates suggested only about 80 tablets would be on the stands at CES in 2011, said Shawn Dubravac, chief economist and director of research at the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) prior to the show opening. I would not be surprised to see 100 plus tablets at CES this year," he said.
One of the first companies to unveil its range of tablet devices at the show was Taiwan's Asus, a company credited with kick-starting the netbook market with its Eee machine. The company showed off four devices including the Eee Pad Transformer, which looks like a laptop but can split into two to allow the screen to function as a tablet. Its machines run a combination of Google's Android operating system and Microsoft's Windows 7.
Asus chairman Jonney Shih credited Apple for kick-starting the tablet market with its iPad, as he unveiled the gadgets."We admire companies like Apple that offer great innovation, but they provide very limited choices for the customers," he said. "Different kinds of customers have different kinds of needs, and the best way to better serve them is to provide choice."
He also demonstrated the Eee Pad Slider, a tablet with a keyboard that slides out of its left side and its touchscreen Slate device
Read the full story at BBC Technology