BenQ Corp (明基) plans to launch netbook computers running on an Android-based platform next year, becoming the latest Taiwanese PC maker to sell netbooks powered by the Google software platform.
On Tuesday, Acer Inc (宏碁) announced it would launch netbooks running on a dual environment of Android and Windows 7 sometime in the third quarter.
While most PC makers have kept quiet about their Android-based laptops at this week’s Computex exhibition in Taipei, such products have been on show at the stands of Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), Asustek’s subsidiary Pegatron Corp (和碩), Inventec Electronics Inc (英業達) and Elitegroup Computer Systems Co (精英).
When approached by the Taipei Times yesterday, product representatives from the companies declined to comment on their Android products.
PC vendors are eager to try it out on their netbooks, hoping to be ready when the Android platform matures and becomes mainstream as more software developers, telecom operators, and hardware manufacturers join this ecosystem.
Although the seven-month old Android is a far cry from Microsoft Corp’s Windows 7 and looks as though it belongs to some second-tier smartphone rather than a PC, Google’s Open Handset Alliance (OHA) has already gathered 48 members including handset manufacturers, mobile operators, software developers and semiconductor makers.
‘HYPER LOCAL’
Daniel Alegre, vice president for Asia Pacific sales and operations at Google, said on Monday that the Android team’s goal was to become “hyper local” and “on-the-go” in order to tap into country-specific localized opportunities for monetization.
The current array of netbooks in the marketplace tend to use Intel Corp’s Atom central processing units (CPU) and run on Microsoft Corp’s Windows XP or Vista operating system. The two giants’ unprecedented marketing activities this week demonstrated the hidden threat of the Android platform combined with non-Intel CPUs such as those developed by ARM Holdings PLC.
SEAMLESS
“It just so happens that ARM CPUs enable Android and Google’s chrome browser to work seamlessly, and meet the average user requirements of optimal computer size, mobile Internet, global wireless infrastructure, and web-to-web applications,” Jeff Chu, ARM’s marketing manager for mobile computing, said yesterday.
ARM is collaborating with Texas Instruments Inc, Qualcomm Corp, NVIDIA Corp, Marvell Technology Group, Samsung Group and Freescale Semiconductor Inc in developing the CPUs.
Chu said ARM CPUs will also become mainstream in netbooks and other mobile devices starting from the fourth quarter of the year.
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