Sony Corp. announced its plans to join the Tablet PC bandwagon as it looks to cash in the on the rising popularity of the device globally.
The Japanese electronics giant's tablet device will run on the Android platform, Kunimasa Suzuki, deputy president of Sony told reporters in Tokyo today.
S1 & S2 Features & Specifications:
The S1 model will feature a 9.4-inch liquid-crystal display (LCD), as well as front and rear cameras. The S2 laptop-shaped model will have dual 5.5-inch screens and feature cameras, Sony said.
Sales of tablet devices are expected to quadruple to about 294 million units between 2011 and 2015, with Android-based products capturing half of the market, according to research firm Gartner.
Sony's rivals, including Samsung, LG, Motorola and HTC have already launched or are in the process of introducing their tablets running on Android operating system.
Canada's Research IN Motion (RIM), which makes the BlackBerry smartphones, recently unveiled its Playbook tablet in the US.
Tablet sales surged to more than 10.3 million units last year from 90,000 in 2009, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.
Apple sold a total of 14.8 million iPads through December 2010, generating US$9.6bn in sales since its introduction in April.
"Sony Tablet", equipped with the latest Android 3.0, will become available in the global market starting in fall 2011.
Both tablets are WiFi and WAN (3G/4G) compatible.
Source: Sony