Samsung, Toshiba 'MeToo' tablets seek to battle iPad

Seoul: Samsung Electronics and Toshiba unveiled tablet computers in Berlin on Thursday, aiming to take market share from Apple Inc's iPad with their lower-priced "Me-Too" devices.

Toshiba said at the consumer electronics fair IFA that the recommended price for its Folio 100 tablet in Europe is 399 euros (Dh1,885), undercutting the iPad, which goes for about 499 euros in the region. Samsung's Galaxy Tab, which like Toshiba's Folio will debut in Europe next month, said it will let phone operators determine the price.

"Looking at the iPad price, alternative tablets should be sold at below $300 to be appealing to consumers unless you have a strong brand to support the premium or a carrier to subsidise the hardware," said Carolina Milanesi, a Gartner Inc. research director in the UK.

Apple has sold more than 3 million iPad units since its April 3 introduction. The Cupertino, California-based company is "unlikely" to face a viable rival in the tablet market before 2011 and will continue to dominate the market in 2012, according to researcher ISuppli. Apple will have a 61.7 per cent market share in 2012 in terms of units sold, from 74.1 per cent this year, it estimates. ISuppli expects the tablet PC market to grow about five-fold between 2010 and 2012 to 81.6 million units.

"Apple has a huge jump on everybody in terms of the momentum that they've built at this point," Rhoda Alexander, an analyst at El Segundo, California-based ISuppli, said.

Research In Motion Ltd. is planning to introduce in November a tablet with a 9.7-inch screen and Wi-Fi capability, according to two people familiar with the company's plans. Verizon Wireless and Google Inc. have discussed a tablet that would run on Android software, and Dell released its $299.99 Streak 5-inch tablet last month.

‘Appealing product'

Sony, the world's third-largest maker of televisions, said on Thursday it hasn't decided yet whether to offer its own tablet computer.

It needs to be a "very appealing product that is going to be widely accepted, as opposed to a me-too product," said Kazuo Hirai, president of Tokyo-based Sony's Networked Products & Services Group.

Hirai said 23 companies are planning to bring tablet computers to market, making a price war inevitable.

Samsung and Toshiba said they see strong demand and expect to garner sizeable market shares in the years ahead.

"Analysts are forecasting maybe 13 million units this year and next year they are forecasting 30 million devices, including the [Galaxy] Tab devices," said DJ Lee, Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung's sales head for mobile communications. "In my view, the global demand could be even bigger."

Samsung, which expects to sell through major US, European and Asian carriers, even in China, will coordinate pricing with the operators, although "we are working to give people a very attractive and competitive price," Lee said.

"The Galaxy Tab will be more favourably priced than the iPad, somewhat above 50 per cent, 60 per cent to 70 per cent of what the iPad costs," Niek Jan van Damme, a Deutsche Telekom AG board member, said in Berlin yesterday.