ASUS preps two tablets with Google OS, Windows
updated 06:45 pm EDT, Tue March 30, 2010
ASUS hedging bets on tablets with two models
ASUS' tablet plans will include "at least two" tablets this year, company CEO Jonney Shih told an interviewer today. He made clear that one would run a Google platform of some sort, either Android or Chrome OS, but that the other would run a variant of Windows. He acknowledged that Apple would have a stake in the field with the iPad but that ASUS would serve the remaining "open camps," where the OS isn't permanently linked to the hardware.
Regardless of platform, Shih stressed to Forbes that content would be very important and that the Google-based model would have "a lot of media" to stack up against the iPad. What he meant wasn't stated, but it may share e-book content with the just unveiled DR-900 e-reader. Apple is counting in no small part on its existing deals and influence to get content for its tablet.
The Taiwanese firm is believed to be working on the Eee Pad as its entry into tablets. It would be closer to mobile Internet devices (MIDs) and would likely be based on a combination of Android and a dual-core Tegra 250 chipset that would give it HD video and fast 3D gaming.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 1999
Meh
Neither Windows nor ChromeOS seem appealing for a tablet. Windows apps aren't designed for tablets, and ChromeOS only runs web apps, not native apps. Some variant of Android OS would have been a lot more interesting.