The folks over at TabCo are gearing up for the release of a new tablet soon that will try and take on the Apple iPad and the numerous Android Honeycomb tablets but can a hardware startup crack an extremely tough market?
We don’t know what the TabCo tablet will be called, what type of hardware it will have or even what type of software it will run (it’s calling it an “Aha! OS). On its FAQ, the company says the device will be special for a lot of reasons:
The UI, for one is like nothing else out there. It is predictive and draws its inspiration from the semantic web. The desktop is different, almost a canvas that gives you extensive flexibility to organize your life and work. I could go on but my marketing people would be pissed.
We’re expecting a lot more information on the TabCo tablet in August and the company is trying to build viral buzz with videos like the one below. It also sent me a pizza today with a few clues about what we can expect. The “8.15.11” is spelled out with sausages and pepperonis and the image on the inside top of the box shows off what could be some of the UI. It reminds me a bit of the fast thumb controls in the browser on Android 3.1.
I don’t care how much delicious pizza you buy, the tablet market is going to be tough to crack, especially as a hardware startup. The iPad appears to be thoroughly dominating this market, as the company shipped 9.25 million iPads last quarter and multinational conglomerates like Samsung and LG will be happy to hit that number in a full year.
I will follow TabCo closely to see what it can bring to the table but I sincerely hope this isn’t another Notion Ink.