ASUS might finally launch a 7-inch tablet, device could be named Eee Memo Pad
Posted on 02. Jan, 2012 by Albert Madison in Tablets
The list of 7-inch tablets is long, almost as long as the list of 10-inch tablets. However as of now Asustek Computer Inc. has participated in the 10-inch+ tablet category only. The company has unveiled a 7-inch tablet twice so far but they haven’t release a single model for consumers to purchase as of yet. Today new reports show that the Taiwanese computer maker is heading back to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) with a new 7-inch tablet.
–To be a bit more accurate Asustek hasn’t released a 7-inch tablet under their normal Eee brand, the company did offer a rugged 7-inch Android tablet earlier this year for Japan consumers only–
Notebook Italia has gotten word that Asustek plans to unveil the Asus Eee Memo Pad tablet at CES 2012. The tablet will feature a 7-inch touchscreen, a 1.2 GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon processing chip, 16-64 GB of internal flash memory, Wi-Fi and 3G for Internet access, and Google’s Android operating system will be featured. The tablets design will follow the formula used by Asustek on the Eee Pad Transformer, the small Memo Pad tablet will have its own custom keyboard dock. Below you can check out what the standalone tablet will look like.
If Asustek does indeed unveil the Asus Eee Memo Pad they’ll be recycling the name of the two 7-inch tablets they unveiled in 2011 but switching the words “Memo” and “Pad”. During CES 2011 Asustek’s eccentric Chairman Jonney Shih revealed the 7-inch Asus Eee Pad MeMo and it’s compatible Bluetooth powered MeMic handset.
The similarities between the two product names makes me wonder if Notebook Italia‘s informants didn’t mix-up the name of the product, because so far all Android tablets from Asustek have followed the same Asus Eee Pad naming formula and I think switching to Asus Eee Memo Pad now would be a bad more for brand building. But we’ll see next week at CES what Asustek has to announce.
Price war
Will the 7-inch tablet be Asustek’s opportunity to get into the price war that’s being waged right now among Android tablets? I think there is a high possibility for that. Given the described specifications Asus isn’t really trying to blow people’s minds with the Eee Memo Pad tablet, which leads me to believe that they will be pricing the tablet very competitively.
I could see Asus going as low as $299 right out of the gate. Going after the $199 price point isn’t realistic for Asustek or their business plan for tablets. Because unlike Amazon and their $199 Kindle Fire Asustek doesn’t own any major digital stores where they can make back the money they would be losing on each sale of their proposed Asus Eee Memo Pad tablet.
Check Out Other Stories
