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.  

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?

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.