VIA's profits in June double from previous month due to tablet sales

While the PC market is feeling the pinch, tablet sales are booming and many component manufacturers are feeling the love, VIA included. A 199.75 percent month-on-month and 168.61 percent year-on-year sales boost for June 2013 has been attributed to sales of tablets to mainland China.

"Industry commentators stated that the popularity of tablets in China is expected to continue expanding. They also expect VIA's performance to exceed its current figures in the third quarter as demand drives up the average selling price for the company's components offerings." - ChinaPost.com.tw

Staggering figures on white-box tablet numbers in China

Once upon a time there was the Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy and ... not much else in the market really except for non-branded tablets manufactured in China. Many of them featured VIA Wondermedia chips. The low cost tablets have proven to be extremely popular in China and the latest figures show that this is not slowing down.

"A total of 262 million displays for tablets are forecast to be shipped in 2013, compared to the previous forecast of 246 million, according to a report from IHS. This will represent 69% growth from 155 million in 2012."- Source: X-BitLabs

VIA always saw it coming

Tech media have reported for some time now that PC shipments are down. That crucial mass has now well and truly been met where PC sales have plummeted but personal computing device sales are booming. The broad category of ultra-mobiles, according to Gartner, is up 5.9%.

The catch-phrase word of ultra-mobile was first used with gusto by VIA back in 2006 when the prototype of the UMPC came out - the Ultra Mobile Personal Computer. Time has shown that this is exactly what people want - a full computing experience on a small and mobile device.

7-inch tablets to drop to $40

VIA led the way some years ago with pushing for the sub-$100 mark for 7-inch tablets. VIA's WonderMedia offers single chip solutions that have made low price points a reality for whitebox manufacturers. Digitimes now reports that such models will drop to as low as $40 by the third quarter this year.

"The market for 7-inch tablets is seeing intense competition and white-box vendors are expected to further reduce prices for entry-level models to US$40 in the second half of 2013, according to Taiwan-based supply chain sources."

Tests show solid performance of new WonderMedia dual core SoC

The new WonderMedia WM8880 tested in an unbranded 7-inch tablet shows a mid-range but solid performance in this screenshot:

http://www.decryptedtech.com/news/via-for-cheap-tablets-and-smartphones

New dual core WonderMedia chip surfaces before official launch

WonderMedia has a new dual core ARM processor coming out and its destined for low-cost smartphones and tablet, probably mainly in the Chinese market and possibly in developing countries as well. The reason is that, if unofficial testing is accurate, its performance is about 1/2 that of the top of the line offerings from Qualcomm, Samsung, NVIDIA and the like. But the trade off is the cost of course and there's no shortage of demand for affordable tablets.

"VIA hasn’t added any information about the new chip to its website yet, but the folks at Chinese site 1pad have posted some details and test results from a 7 inch tablet powered by the WM8880 processor. The new processor appears to be very similar to the WM8850 chip which launched last year, but the WM8880 features dual-core graphics while last year’s chip had a single-core Mali 400 GPU." - Source:  Liliputing.com

Does this $100 tablet have VIA WonderMedia inside?

I can't be sure but it's a good bet that this tablet by the well-known brand of Polaroid, is driven by a VIA WonderMedia ARM9 processor and complimentary graphics chip. I make this guess based on the fact that VIA's WonderMedia solution brings to the table the specs and prices mentioned in the ad.

This is an entry-level Android tablet with an entry-level price, available at the discount store in the US, Big Lots.

Chairman of VIA Technologies, Inc. and HTC donating 100 000 tablets to women

Cher Wang, the visionary leader behind VIA and HTC, is quoted in an article on Want China Times as saying that she founded " ... HTC to create a computer so small that it could be carried in a pocket and said she was now setting her sights elsewhere. "The dream has come true and now my next dream is to make the world a more equal place for women," Wang said."

VIA has of course played no small part in the development of this vision. VIA's focused has been on revolutionising the size and power consumption of desktop and industrial PCs whilst HTC's focus has been on personal devices, most notably the mobile phone, which these days is a mobile personal computing device far exceeding its role as a portable phone.

Cher Wang has been a passionate advocate for equality for women in the workplace. She is the chair of the ABAC Women's Forum. Her announcement, that she will donate 100 000 tablets to young women in Asia-Pacific countries, was made at a World Bank forum.  

WonderMedia announces new tablet platforms for 7" and 10.1"

With the tablet wars hotting up, not only with variety but price competition, WonderMedia has put together new platforms that boast ergonomic design, front and rear cameras and up to a 1.4Ghz WM8980 ARM Cortex- A9 Dual-Core processor combined with the ARM Mali-400 Dual-Processor GPU.

10.1” and 7” Turnkey Tablet Solution Highlights:

• World class ergonomic design
• Up to a 1.4Ghz WM8980 ARM Cortex- A9 Dual-Core processor
• ARM Mali-400 Dual-Processor GPU
• Supports up to 2GB DDR3 RAM and 16GB NAND Flash
• Thin design of only 4.5mm on top edge and 3mm on side edge
• Ultra-lightweight, only 650g for 10.1” and 370g for 7” designs
• Support for up to 8M rear camera and 2M front camera
• High compatibility with WiFi and 3G Cellular Networks
• Expansive I/O including one Mini HDMI port, one Micro SD port (up to 32GB), 1 USB and Micro-USB OTG port, and one 3.5mm stereo headphone jack
• Up to 8000MAH battery for 10.1” and up to 3400MAH battery for 7” designs
• Simple and efficient manufacturing and assembly process for easier production
• Advanced hardware security engine
• Android 4.2 available

HTC to enter the Windows tablet game?

With rumours running wild that HTC will release a Windows 8 tablet later this year, I wonder what the hardware specs will be, if the rumour is true? Could this be a chance for HTC's sister company, VIA, to get some sales.

If history is any indication, the close relationship of the two companies will provide no guarantee at all. VIA's system media processor's are certainly up to the task of a high-res 10 inch tablet, but can the price be low enough to make it in this fiercely competitive space?

VIA WonderMedia bold idea taking root

It was several years ago that VIA WonderMedia first started to target the sub-$100 tablet PC mark. Back then the controversial thing was that the tablets were 7-inch, much smaller than the standard set by Apple with the iPad first gen. at 10 inches. Now the controversial focus is on just how productive you can be with a cheap but well featured sub-$100 tablet. Interestingly, it's the operating system that makes the tablet super-useful, even when the hardware specs are no where near top end models.

"The good news is that Ice Cream Sandwich lets you do a number of neat things, from pulling up notifications (showing battery life, network and emails) from the bottom right of the screen to pinning widgets to the home screen." - Source.

Asus Memo Pad, with VIA WonderMedia, released in India

Around $170 Australian, or 9999 rupee in India, will get you this light-weight tablet from Asus, available in a range of snazzy colors.

The specs are pretty standard for the price point. Considering how well Amazon apps work on Android tablets, this is a great multi-purpose device that is a nice size for an ereader and tablet.

That $99 tablet rumour is back

Google and VIA's WonderMedia are at the centre of a rumour about a new $99 tablet that has attracted the attention of tech media the world over.

"The Google rumor is fairly specific, even if it hasn't proven to be true – DigiTimes claimed the new device would launch in late 2012. The search giant supposedly joined forces with Asian manufacturers WonderMedia, HannStar and Quanta, DigiTime said, to bring the tablet to market."

This isn't the first time that "WonderMedia" and "$99 tablet" have been seen together in the one sentence. Actually when the rumours first came out the favoured term was "sub-$100". The price point has been achieved by white box manufacturers in China many times over, but very few have left China and made it to retail at that same price point. With Google's backing, the no-doubt Android-based tablets could reach a worldwide customer base. - Source.

Taiwan suppliers scramble for ODM Ultrabook business

There's a lot of talk on the news wires today about ultra books, a Google touch-based small notebook and Taiwanese manufacturers fierce competition to supply the market with white box branded copy-cats of big brand offerings. Digitimes reports that ultra-like model shipments are expected to double in 2013.

In another report: "Although notebook brand vendors have finished most of their order placements for 2013, they are currently still releasing some sporadic orders, accounting for 5-8% of their total volumes, to the market with ODMs competing aggressively for these shipments, according to sources from notebook ODMs."

VIA and indeed VIA Labs, will surely be looking to secure some deals amongst this.

7-inch Whitebox tablet sales still going strong in China

We don't hear all that much about it in Australia these days, but no-name and not-well-known brand 7-inch tablet sales, many of them featuring VIA chips, are still selling like hot-cakes in China.

"As for the tablet market in China, excluding Apple's iPad which enjoys a high popularity in the region, players such as Lenovo, Samsung Electronics and Asustek are all having difficulty competing against the local white-box players due to their rather competitive pricing; however, the first-tier brand vendors still plan to launch 7-inch tablet models with prices around CNY1,000 (US$160) to compete for the market." - Digitimes

With Australia being so close to China, the models are not all that hard to find—eBay is the best place to start.

With ARM's new 64-bit announcement, what will WonderMedia do?

VIA WonderMedia chips were one of the first to be taken up and used by countless Chinese tablet manufacturers, when 7-inch tablets first hit the market. All the designs were fairly similar, and based on VIA WonderMedia WM8750 chips that include an ARM 11 core and are 1080p capable.

ARM have just announced new 64-bit Cortex-A50 series processor designs, licenses for which will be sold to companies like WonderMedia, with their intended usage to be in, not smartphones and tablets, but in servers.

"ARM dominates in smartphones and tablets, but is aiming to make its mark in the server market ruled by x86 chips from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. There is growing interest in ARM servers as an energy-efficient way to handle large numbers of Web requests such as in search or social networks. Dell and Hewlett-Packard already offer prototype ARM-based servers for testing to customers looking to deploy ARM servers to cut energy bills. However, Intel is also tweaking its low-power Atom processors to work in cloud servers and will release new Atom S-series chips for microservers later this year." - Source.

Will WonderMedia pursue this new avenue?

HTC considering a new tablet

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.

VIA spreading tablets to education market in India

VIA and Wishtell get a mention in an upbeat article about the proliferation of tablets in the education sector. The VIA based tablets were recently launched in India, catering to 23 different regional languages.

"Our tablets will enable students to access virtual labs for physics, chemistry and so on. A student can also subscribe to our special packages, such as astronomy content, which may not be available in the school curriculum," says Milind Shah, CEO of Wishtel India. - Source.

VIA and Wishtel bring out new tablets in India

Two new Wishtel tablets, featuring VIA chips, are the first in the world to natively support Indian languages giving them an advantage for adoption into the education market in India.

“With the introduction of the IRA and IRA Thing, Wishtel is leading the way in driving tablet innovation in India,” commented Richard Brown, VP International Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. “The potential for these devices is breathtaking, particularly in areas such as education.”

Source.

How to turn a cheapie tablet into a cool device

The VIA WonderMedia WM8650 chip can be found in many 7 and 8 inch tablets that are manufactured in China and being sold for around the $100 mark. The specs are low, with an 800MHz processor, 256MB RAM and just 2GB internal storage. But for the price, the First Arkansas News has discovered that with a bit of tweaking, you can have yourself a fun mobile Internet device.

"Ah, but rooting the Cerebro is worth it. Prior to doing that, I had no Android Market, games were so slow they were unplayable and even the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook applications were painfully slow. All of those problems were fixed after I rooted the machine and that’s a good thing as I wanted the Kindle and Nook apps to work so I could turn this into a cheap ereader. The root kept me at Android 2.2 (Froyo) instead of moving to Android 3, but at least the thing behaves a lot better than it did."

The specific tablet in question is the Cerebro from Lightinthebox.com.