With honchos like the iPad raking in $500+ a pop, the market could certainly use more low-cost options, and Via says a handful of devices will step up to the plate this year. The Taiwanese company expects its chips to ship in several sub-$200 slates before the year is up.
To be specific, Via executive Richard Brown says about five different Android-based tablets priced between $100 and $150 will arrive in the US during the second half of 2010.
Consumers have long refused tablet PCs, but Brown feels Apple has "legitimated" the tablet market with the success of its iPad - and he's not alone. Research house IDC believes the iPad will incite a sixfold increase in global tablet shipments by 2014, rising from 7.6 million to 46 million. With such projections, it would appear tablets are here to stay for the foreseeable future. If you haven't already hopped on the bandwagon, what'll take you to get you aboard?