Apple's iPads and Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tabs are seen everywhere but it doesn’t mean that the world of tablets only belong to these giants. Here is one competitor in Korea that is throwing down the gauntlet to these Goliaths.
Enspert, Korea's mid-sized tablet PC manufacturer is upbeat on finding a niche amid the tough competition between Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab and Apple’s iPad. The Seoul-based outfit has released its latest Identity Cron tablet. The successor of the Identity Tab has a 7-inch screen and runs on Google’s Android 2.2 mobile operating system.
The slate is equipped with a 1-gigahert processor and supports 1.3- and 5-megapixel cameras on the front and back, respectively, while enabling users to share and download mobile content, it said at the recent launch event held in downtown Seoul.
The Cron will be available from the nation’s second-biggest mobile carrier KT with the price at 500,000 won ($450).
Its Wi-Fi models will initially go on sale this month and WiBro versions will be available from April. Both utilize wireless connectivity based on differing platforms.
"Enspert aims to sell half a million tablets this year through strengthening partnership with the nation’s leading mobile carriers," Enspert CEO Lee Chang-seok told the news conference.
Korea has been emerged as one of the world’s hot beds for tablet computers since the arrival of Apple’s 3GS-based iPad in November 2009. Samsung is challenging Apple with its Galaxy Tab series.
Lee expects the local demand for tablet PCs will rise to 4 million during 2011. He said so far over 65,000 Identity Tabs have been sold since the device’s release in September last year.
It has already been selling tablets in the United States with competitive prices thanks to steady demand initially ignited by the introduction of Apple’s iPad.
The CEO said that tech-heavy users are paying more for familiar brand names, giving better business opportunities for little-known firms with similar products.
Lee of Enspert said Asia's No. 4 economy needs to have more companies like HTC to give extra value to customers and options for product selection. HTC is a medium-sized Taiwan-based leading smartphone maker founded in 1997.
"We are finding difficulties in heading into markets dominated by Apple and Samsung Electronics. The expenditure of 3 billion won to promote the product also weighs on us," Lee said.
"Yes, it's true that our brand recognition is not strong compared to that of market leaders. But we hope to better penetrate the local tablet market by releasing competitive products at affordable prices."
Enspert was recently authorized by Google to use the latter's software-related services, which is the first of its kind among small- and mid-sized enterprises.
"We hope that the Google authorization will help us raise our brand awareness," he said. Market analysts have echoed such worries by saying that Enspert will face tougher rivalries in the local tablet PC market and advised that software updates and fresh models with different screen sizes are critical.