Sharp president says his tablets compete with iPad

Sharp President Mikio Katayama late Tuesday told Japan's Kyodo News that his company's upcoming tablets should compete with the iPad. Although initially positioned as e-readers, their color touchscreens give them multi-role functions Katayama believed could challenge Apple. At least one model is due to ship to Verizon before the end of the year with built-in 3G.

The executive also revealed that Sharp is contemplating creating a tablet with a larger version of the glasses-free 3D display it has developed for handheld-sized devices like the Nintendo 3DS. Sharp's system uses a parallax barrier approach that creates the 3D effect when viewed head-on.

Katayama maintained that at least one 3D smartphone would come from Sharp by the end of the year, although this is most likely limited to Sharp's home country. The company has only occasionally ventured into more advanced devices outside of Japan and suffered an embarrassment when Microsoft killed the Kin after six weeks on the market, although much of this has been blamed on internal Microsoft politics and poor software.

By Electronista Staff

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