Toshiba Announces Development of Tablets Powered by Windows 7 and Android

It looks like the Tablet PC competition is getting hotter. I guess it’s a new trend after the success with netbooks. While most PC manufacturers has produced Tablet PC for quite some time, it is only recently that consumer starts to show greater interest on Tablet PC, perhaps thanks to Apple’s iPad hype. Speaking to Reuters  on Toshiba’s amazing Q1 sales in the United States (50% increase since the previous quarter), Jeff Barney, GM Digital Products for Toshiba America, provided hints on Toshiba’s upcoming tablet devices.

Barney mentioned two variant of new Tablet PC under development. The first one is a 10-inch Windows 7 device with two screens, and the second one is a smaller Android device that will be cheaper but customizable (Something similar to iPad). Both devices are meant for "media consumption" as their "main user activity", and Barney said that they will try to position it in way that it will not eat into its growing laptop sales. "We definitely see a place for the slate, we see there’s a market there. It’ll be expansive like netbooks, it won’t be cannibalistic."

Toshiba already offers tablets in the Japanese and European markets (pictured above is the European device – Journe Touch – a MID that runs on Windows CE), and says it will introduce its two new slates late this year or early next year.