ViewSonic Releasing Windows 8 Tablet in 2Q12? No.
A ViewSonic marketing director claims the company is launching a Windows 8 tablet in the Taiwan market during the second quarter of 2012. But a ViewSonic rep says it will be the second half of 2012 (updated).
There's crazy talk going on over at DigiTimes, as Max Liu, product marketing director of ViewSonic Asia Pacific, claims the company plans to launch a Windows 8-based tablet in the Taiwan market during the second quarter of 2012. That means a 10-inch tablet sporting Windows 8 will be launched sometime between April and June, and before Microsoft actually launches the new OS worldwide.
What's likely to happen -- and this is just speculation -- is that ViewSonic will release a tablet with Windows 8 Consumer Preview pre-installed, making the device substantially cheaper because there's no added cost for the OS. That, unfortunately, will come later when the Preview ends and customers must shell out money for the real deal. At this point there's no telling what's powering the device, but presumably an x86/64-based SoC.
In addition to the Windows 8 tablet in 2Q12, the company also plans to release two to three new tablets in the same timeframe, some of which will sport Google's Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" OS. But before all of that, ViewSonic plans to roll out a 3G version of its ViewPad 10e tablet in March. The new models will join ViewSonic's current tablet helping in Taiwan including the ViewPad 10 and the ViewPad 10e.
Liu said that ViewSonic shipped around 6,000 tablets per month in the Taiwan market during 2011, bolstering it to the #3 position. With the launch of new models in the first half of 2012, Liu sees ViewSonic's tablet market share expanding even more in 2012.
UPDATE: A ViewSonic representative told Tom's that the company "expects Windows 8 in the market the second half of 2012, not the second quarter, and is working on a Windows 8 tablet solution to hit the market in the same timeframe."
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dimar Wouldn't it be better if manufacturers would allow to install Android, Windows, WebOS, iOS and whatever? We could multiboot, and at buy applications from different OS markets at the same time. That would also bring more $$$ to developers :-) Instead of waiting for new OS versions forever, we could just grab the latest Android from Google (it's free right?) and get the drivers from Samsung or Asus for example....Reply
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house70 dimarWouldn't it be better if manufacturers would allow to install Android, Windows, WebOS, iOS and whatever? We could multiboot, and at buy applications from different OS markets at the same time. That would also bring more $$$ to developers :-) Instead of waiting for new OS versions forever, we could just grab the latest Android from Google (it's free right?) and get the drivers from Samsung or Asus for example....I had the same idea for phones... but we are not the deciding people there.Reply -
__-_-_-__ dimarWouldn't it be better if manufacturers would allow to install Android, Windows, WebOS, iOS and whatever? We could multiboot, and at buy applications from different OS markets at the same time. That would also bring more $$$ to developers :-) Instead of waiting for new OS versions forever, we could just grab the latest Android from Google (it's free right?) and get the drivers from Samsung or Asus for example....It's called N900 and similars. you could have, maemo, QT aka similar to symbian experience, android, meego, tizen. But nokia killed it.Reply
Problem is companies want to control everything. Not even the ones claiming to be open source. Android is very very far from being trully open source.
Wouldn't it be better if manufacturers and all developers allow to install open source software?
we would all have somekind of linux with much better interface then windows. better in everything and free without companies controlling the projects.
Also you can try but problem is always the support from companies. you can install very easily android on a windows x86 tablet but most things won't work or won't work properly. webcam, touchscreen, 3g, gps etc
not even these so called dual boot crapp stuff from viewsonic. viewsonic is the worst company in the world regarding device support. they are full of bugs. it's awful just search it.
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zloginet dimarWouldn't it be better if manufacturers would allow to install Android, Windows, WebOS, iOS and whatever? We could multiboot, and at buy applications from different OS markets at the same time. That would also bring more $$$ to developers :-) Instead of waiting for new OS versions forever, we could just grab the latest Android from Google (it's free right?) and get the drivers from Samsung or Asus for example....Reply
Sounds like you need to buy a laptop or ultrabook... Keep some devices simple and let the real devices have the options. Before you know it your gonna ask for multi-boot on a vehicle dashboard. By the way, holding a tablet is horrible, they will fade. Ultrabooks will take over -
back_by_demand zloginetSounds like you need to buy a laptop or ultrabook... Keep some devices simple and let the real devices have the options. Before you know it your gonna ask for multi-boot on a vehicle dashboard. By the way, holding a tablet is horrible, they will fade. Ultrabooks will take overAlready have a netbook with multi-os boot, but I want a tablet that does the same, is it so much to ask for? OK so maybe I should just get a Windows 7 based tablet and wipe it, partition the drive and load up Windows 8, Linux and XBMC Live, are they really going to make me go that route?Reply
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Actually that may be better anyway -
d-isdumb Viewsonic use to be good many years ago but have been putting out cheap junk for a while now and you are lucky if it last a couple years.Reply