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LG touts 'surprisingly productive' iPad killer

Novel feature: usefulness

LG says that its upcoming tablet, set for worldwide release before the end of this year, will compete against Apple's iPad by being, well, useful.

"It's going to be surprisingly productive," LG VP for mobile-device marketing Chang Ma told the Wall Street Journal. "Our tablet will be better than the iPad."

Ma told the WSJ that his company's tablet will focus not on content consumption, as does the iPad, but instead be a productivity device loaded with apps that support, for example, document writing and video editing.

LG's Optimus-branded tablet joins an ever-growing crowd of iPad-killer hopefuls, both announced and merely rumored:

  • RIM is rumored to be prepping a tablet called the BlackPad for launch in November at around $500.
  • Google is said to be developing a Chrome OS-based tablet that will hit retailers' shelves on the day after Thanksgiving — in the US only, however.
  • Acer's oft-rumored Android tablet, first said to be slated for release before the end of this year, has reportedly slipped to the first quarter of next year due to the company's decision to wait for Android 3.0.
  • Asus is said to be developing a tablet called — what else? — the Eee Pad, although whether it'll be a full-scale tablet or a color e-book reader is murky.
  • Toshiba's Australian managing director waved a prototype tablet at a company event, and said that either an Android or Windows 7 version would appear in September or October, with the other to follow.
  • Motorola has jumped on the Android 3.0–based tablet bandwagon as well, according to some sources.
  • Lenovo has reportedly confirmed that they have a tablet in the works called LePad, set for delivery by the end of the year.

And then there's the sad saga of Microsoft's Courier, which was killed before it was born.

Apple, the clear trend-setter in the tablet arena, isn't standing still. Recent rumors have Cupertino busily developing two new iPads — one with a seven-inch display and the other being an upgrade of the current 9.7-inch model, and both with snappier Cortex A9–based processors.

The Reg applauds LG's stated intent to make their tablet more conducive to productivity than is the iPad. Absent a clear differentiation from Apple's "magical and revolutionary" device, wannabe iPad killers may be doomed to the same fate as the horde of hopeful iPod-killers that were supposed to rip chunks of market share away from Cupertino's überpopular digital-music player.

That didn't happen — e.g., Microsoft's Zune. ®

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