ViewSonic is storming the tablet computer market with two new devices, ViewPad 7 and ViewPad 10, that keep the channel in mind. The new tablet computers, which will enter a market owned by Apple's iPad, mark the first of what ViewSonic promises will be a complete family of tablets.
The ViewPad 7 offers a seven-inch screen, Android 2.2, and is 3G capable. ViewSonic says it is carrier-independent but comes with Google Mobile Services including the Android Apps store, Gmail and YouTube. The device also includes Bluetooth and WiFi, two built-in cameras, one front facing and another rear facing. Battery life is about eight hours. The tablet is priced at $479 and will be on store shelves at the end of November. ViewSonic declined to say which stores would carry the device.
The second device, the ViewPad 10, was designed with business in mind with a 10-inch screen and a dual boot OS – Windows 7 Home Premium and Android 1.6. The ViewPad 10 is equipped with an Intel Atom processor with 1 Gigabyte of memory and a 16G harddrive. It also has a microSD slot.
“We are really looking at this product as ideal for a person who wants to take the desktop experience with them,” Adam Hanin, vice president of marketing for ViewSonic Americas, told Channel Insider.
The ViewPad 10 provides the full web browsing experience with support for Flash as well as allowing users to run all their Microsoft Office applications. It offers a 1.3 megapixel front-facing web-cam for video conferencing. The ViewPad 10 will be available in the first quarter of 2011 with a street price of $629. Both the ViewPad 7 and the ViewPad 10 have USB ports.
Channel partners of ViewSonic will have access to both products and the company’s full line of tablet computers that ViewSonic has in the works.
“ViewSonic is a channel-focused company so we don’t really do anything before considering the channel first and foremost,” said Hanin, but said the company was not yet ready to offer more details of its go-to-market strategy for either of the two forthcoming devices. “We haven’t finalized all of distribution yet. But rest assured that our product line is designed for multiple markets and for our channel partners being able to access. We don’t do anything without the channel.”
