If consumers like iPad-like devices, and they also like smartphones, what could be even better than a Padfone?
That was the thinking at Asus, which on Monday unveiled its latest invention ahead of the Computex trade show.
The Padfone is a smartphone that could be to converted into a tablet by slotting it into an otherwise inert tablet, much like inserting a cassette tape. Besides seamlessly switching to a bigger screen, the extra battery in the tablet dock would also help extend the battery life of the phone. The package, which will run the latest version of Android, is expected to go on sale during the Christmas holiday season.
Jonney Shih, chairman of Asus, said the Padfone idea was born out of the consideration that “the smartphone and the tablet have different usage scenarios”, and Asus’ designers wanted to come up with a single product that would meet all those different situations.
The danger for Asus is that consumers might find they have better options from other vendors by buying their phone and their tablet separately. But whatever the merits of the idea, the Padfone, which comes as a host of Android-based tablets are hitting the market, is proof that innovation is born out of competition and open systems.
Besides the Padfone, Asus also announced its Eee Pad meMO, a 7-inch slate first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, which will come with glasses-free 3D display, the first mainstream tablet with such a feature.
It may have taken Apple’s rivals more than a year since the iPad’s launch to mount their defences, but if there is one thing that this year’s Computex will make clear, it is that the tablet war is only just beginning.
