Australia’s major telecom firm Telstra yesterday unveiled a tablet device to rival Apple’s iPad, featuring many of the same functions but with the added bonus of also working as a cellphone.
Telstra’s T-Touch Tab, which goes on sale next week, allows users to make video and phone calls and send text messages, and is being touted as the country’s “most affordable wireless tablet.”
“T-Touch Tab will suit Australians’ appetite for quick and affordable access to information, useful apps and digital media wherever they may be,” said Rebekah O’Flaherty, executive director of Telstra’s consumer division. “From games that keep the kids amused, reading e-books, checking your e-mail or catching the weather on the move, the possibilities are virtually endless.”
The device will retail for A$299 (US$295) and has a 7 inch touchscreen. It runs Google’s Android 2.1 operating system, offering access to more than 80,000 applications.
Experts have described the device as Australia’s first budget-priced tablet, giving it generally warm reviews.
PC World computer magazine said it stood out compared with competitors like the iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab as an “affordable, entry-level tablet that doesn’t skimp on too many features.”
Tech Web site Gizmodo Australia said the device was aimed at teenagers and older buyers “who might be interested in the idea of a tablet but don’t want to pay 650 dollars for an iPad.”
However, the T-Touch’s resistive touchscreen — meaning users have to push down on it slightly — was “probably too big a sacrifice for any discerning gadget lover,” the Web site said.
Apple launched the iPad in Australia to much fanfare in May, with some customers holding overnight vigils to be first through the doors. Marketing firm GfK recently estimated almost 200,000 units had been sold.
Apple said it “does not break figures down to a country level” but said more than 4.2 million iPads had been sold worldwide in the three months to last month alone.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last