Compaq Computer Corp, the largest personal computer maker, said a tablet-size, wireless PC it's developing with Microsoft Corp to introduce next year will be priced at about the same level as a notebook PC.
``It should be around what an equivalent notebook PC costs,'' said Ken Willet, vice president in charge of Compaq's desktop and portable business, following a press conference.
``That should be the target.''
The Houston-based company yesterday announced the introduction of two notebook PCs and two workstations to the Japanese market under the new brand ``Evo.''
The cheapest notebook computer model will be priced at an estimated ?149,800 (US$1,221), it said.
Microsoft said in March that Compaq, Sony Corp, Toshiba Corp, Acer Inc and Fujitsu Ltd will develop Tablet PCs using the next version of its Windows operating system.
The No. 1 software maker by sales didn't disclose pricing at the time.
Analysts said parts costs for the Tablet PC could propel the price above what many consumers are willing to pay.
Top PC chipmaker Intel Corp and startup Transmeta Corp will make the chips for the Tablet PC, which will be about as big as a sheet of letter paper.
Users will be able to enter data by writing with a stylus similar to those used with palm-held devices.
The Tablet PC will probably reach store shelves in the latter half of next year, Compaq's Willet said.
The maker of iPaq Pocket PC also said it's expanding supplies of the electronic organizer to the Japanese market because of stronger-than-expected demand. It introduced a model with a 32-megabyte memory last month and a 64-megabyte memory model this month.
While Compaq normally supplies about 6 percent of its output to the Japanese market, it will start raising that to about 10 percent later this month, Makoto Baba, vice president of Compaq's Japanese unit, said after the press conference.
The company has unfilled orders for about 600,000 iPaq Pocket PCs in the US and Europe, where the device went on sale in April last year, Baba said.
Brisk sales of Compaq's Pocket PCs running Microsoft's operating system contrast with sales of rival products by Palm Inc.
The world's largest maker of electronic organizers last week said fiscal fourth-quarter sales will be about half the already-reduced forecast.
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