Sony Wants in on the iPad-like Tablet Business

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The iPad is already an innovative device despite its shortcomings. The gadget has resurrected the tablet business and Apple’s main competitors are going to follow this new trend and launch their own tablets soon. One of them is Sony and the company might launch its own iPad-like tablet in the near future. Should we assume that a Vaio tablet is on the way as we speak?

Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony’s CFO said during a news conference held to present Sony’s quarterly financial results that the tablet market is “a market [they] are also very interested in.” He went on to say that Sony has the skills to make such a product and we tend to believe him. Sony makes some pretty decent computers so why not make a tablet too? But will a Sony tablet be better than the iPad? Will it also be as affordable as the iPad?

Oneda also acknowledged the fact that time-wise Sony is just a little behind Apple but that is not necessarily a problem. We’ve seen so many tablets already announced for 2010 but there’s still space for some more. By the end of the year we will be able to judge which manufacturer has truly been able to establish itself as the tablet maker that’s worth following. And that’s not necessarily going to be Apple even if Cupertino opened the doors to unleash this whole tablet frenzy.

The future Sony tablet will have its own store for music, movies, games and eBooks. What’s more interesting is that Sony already has a reader, the Sony Reader Daily Edition which has been conceived in order to fight the Kindle. Will Sony ditch the readers in favor of the upcoming tablets? Oneda said that the Daily Edition “has received great acclaim and [they] plan to expand sales going forward.” In other words Sony’s upcoming unnamed tablet will also compete against Sony’s readers when it becomes available in stores later this year.