Dell’s Small Tablet Prescription!
Hot on the heels of Blackberry and Google, the world’s number three PC maker, Dell, announce that they are also to launch their own tablet device. Joining Apple’s iPad, the smart device market seems ready to set alight the future path of website search and access on the move.
Could the direction of website design and online marketing about to reinvent itself in the face of superfast search and instant access results?
It does appear that Dell’s name for their tablet, ‘ The Streak’ – also known as the Mini 5 – predicts the acceleration of mobile-style instant info , being the first of a number of planned products from the giant PC manufacturer.
Marking Dell’s return to the handheld computer market, ‘The Streak’, which runs Google’s Android operating system, will be smaller than most tablets with a 5in (12.5cm) screen and is primarily, a data device.
Fitting in between a smart phone with a big screen and an iPad, Dell, in an attempt to differentiate itself from other tablet manufacturers, are focusing on small-screen devices, with a 7in and a 10in tablet planned for the future.
The convergence of ‘mini tablet’ with a mobile search platform presents eCommerce with multiple screen size opportunities for adaptive, versatile online brand design.
The recent launch of the Apple iPad, which sold more than one million units in its first month, and will be on sale in the UK from 28 May, has led analysts to suggest that there will be 1.3 billion mobile devices sold around the world in 2010.
Previous attempts to launch tablet PCs, have never become mass market, and one of the reasons that tablets are now making a comeback is the success of the smartphone market, in particular mobile applications, designed for the devices.
Described as a ‘companion’ or ‘consolidation device’, the touchscreen ‘Streak’ will initially launch across Europe, offered exclusively through Carphone Warehouse and O2 in the UK from June, prior to release in the US.
The first model comes with 3G and wi-fi connectivity, 16GB of storage, GPS and two cameras, one on the front and one on the back and, unlike many other Android tablets, owners will be able to download applications from the Android marketplace.