HONG KONG: ZTE Corp China’s number 2 telecommunications equipment maker, launched its first tablet PC, the latest entrant to a market that has received a new lease on life with Apple Inc’s iPad launch.
The company’s new model, the ZTE Light, joins a growing range of ZTE products, mostly smartphones until now, that run on Google’s free Android operating system, which is rapidly becoming a staple of low-cost smartphone and tablet PC makers.
ZTE’s entry to the market could mark the beginning of downward price pressure on the popular tablet PCs that have zoomed in popularity since the iPad launch earlier this year.
It did not provide a suggested retail price for the device.The smartphone segment has seen similar downward pressure on prices in the last year, as low-cost designers like ZTE, Huawei and Lenovo Group Ltd have piled into the market.
The new ZTE tablet PC features a 7-inch touchscreen, smaller than the iPad’s 9.7-inch screen, weights 403 grams and supports wireless mobile service using the GSM family of standards, including WCDMA.
The company said it had already received many orders for the model abroad, though it declined to provide any names.
ZTE becomes the latest company to board the tablet PC bandwagon, joining Nokia, LG Electronics Inc, Dell Inc, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard Co which have all rolled out their own offerings since the iPad’s launch.