It was only a matter of time. We knew as early as CES 2010 that slate/tablet PCs were back on track for a second wind after dying out years ago, but it seems that an unlikely contender has boosted everyone else into overdrive. Apple's iPad is the first real tablet to launch this market into the next gear, and with companies like NVIDIA, Asus and Dell also looking to get involved, this is no doubt that Sony would be close behind.
In a conference held in Tokyo, 's CEO Nobuyuki Oneda exclaimed that his company was eager to get in on this space, though he confessed that Sony was lagging behind the others in terms of time to market. In reality, we highly doubt that Sony was considering doing a tablet PC before all these other rivals began to do so, but either way, we'll take the competition. To quote Mr. Oneda:
"That is a market we are also very interested in. We are confident we have the skills to create a product. Time-wise we are a little behind the iPad but it's a space we would like to be an active player in."
Sony isn't a total stranger to this world. The company has competed in the e-reader market already, and in a way, the tablet space is just an extension of that. It also just introduced the Dash Internet Viewer (shown) at CES. The company's Sony Reader Daily Edition has reportedly sold well, and if they can mimic that kind of success in the tablet sector, we could be seeing the beginning of a real boom. Sony is a huge name; a name that's big enough to convince even the skeptics that tablets are back and in business. Of course, the software is the real unknown. Windows 7 supports touch, but nothing about it works exceptionally well with touch. Will Sony choose to modify Windows in order to make for a more touch-friendly experience? Only time will tell, and unfortunately Sony isn't saying when its first tablet/slate will be out (if one makes it to market at all).
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