It's interesting that VIA WonderMedia was one of the first chip designers to get enthusiastic about the 7-inch tablet market. I remember visiting the Lunch @ Piero's event in Las Vegas during CES probably five years ago (I think) and seeing 7-inch tablet designs. Other manufacturers had prototypes on their stands, often "UMPCs", but VIA WonderMedia had working products already for sale in China.
Around three years ago there were dozens of 7-inch tablets available across Asia with VIA WonderMedia chips powering them. Only a couple of them actually made it to the Western market in any volume. They were sold as cheap (around the $100 mark) tablets and of course couldn't compete with the iPad hype.
HTC, related to VIA by family ownership, tried to get into the tablet market also with a couple of Windows-based tablets and like just about everyone who went with Microsoft for their OS, success wasn't a word found in their post-launch review documents!
Rumour has it that HTC is considering a new tablet PC. Questions are: 1) will it be Android based this time? Certainly HTC has had huge success with Android on their phone handsets and 2) will they use the resources of "related" companies like VIA WonderMedia or even VIA itself in the design.
Around three years ago there were dozens of 7-inch tablets available across Asia with VIA WonderMedia chips powering them. Only a couple of them actually made it to the Western market in any volume. They were sold as cheap (around the $100 mark) tablets and of course couldn't compete with the iPad hype.
HTC, related to VIA by family ownership, tried to get into the tablet market also with a couple of Windows-based tablets and like just about everyone who went with Microsoft for their OS, success wasn't a word found in their post-launch review documents!
Rumour has it that HTC is considering a new tablet PC. Questions are: 1) will it be Android based this time? Certainly HTC has had huge success with Android on their phone handsets and 2) will they use the resources of "related" companies like VIA WonderMedia or even VIA itself in the design.
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