Tag archives: acer

by Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee) A new entrant in the ultra-low-cost tablet market is also a global brand name at the high end. That could make all the difference.

While the world watches the battle for the high-end tablet market being waged between Apple and Samsung, a surprise attack is being mounted on the low end of the market.

Acer is best known for quality notebook computers, but late last year announced a series of tablets and Ultrabooks that positioned it alongside the equivalent high-end devices from Apple and Samsung. However, its pricing was so out of kilter with the competition at that level, it in effect wiped out the rest of its differentiating factors.

It seems that Acer won’t make the same mistake again. This week, it announced the imminent arrival of a tablet targeting the entry-level. That’s the arena dominated by no-name generic 7” tablets running the free Android operating system, imported from the East and given local branding. Prices range from R1000 to R3000 but, at the low end of that range, devices are barely functional for high-speed or interactive use.

Most quality name-brand tablets competing at this level, such as the Huawei Ideos, came in at around R3500. Its successor, the Mediapad, ran to R4300. However Apple shook up that market segment with the 7.9” iPad mini, starting here at R3400 – cheaper than buying the device in Europe.

That left Asus as the last international brand standing at the entry level, with the 7” MeMO Pad. It carries a reported R2000 price tag on a tablet running the Android Jelly bean operating system, weighing 358g, sporting a single-core 1GHz processor, 1GB of memory, 8GB or 16GB storage, and the option to expand storage via a microSD slot. A microUSB port also offers easy escape for files.