Notebook Players May Postpone Tablet PC Launch Schedule Because Of iPad 2

Digitimes’ Monica Chen and Joseph Tsai report that facing strong competition from Apple’s iPad 2, several PC notebook brand vendors have pointed out that iPad 2’s low price of US$499 is leaving tablet PC models with relatively higher prices no room for survival and that already two or three prospective players now plan to postpone their tablet PC models’ launch schedule until after they redesign the specifications and reduce related costs, according to industry sources.

Moreover. these unnamed sources suggest out that the tablet PC war that was expected in April may turn out to played only by the iPad, being as iPad 2 is lighter and thinner and faster than the previous generation device, with more features, but will sell at the same price points as iPad 1.

Not only that, Apple is flogging the lame duck first-generation iPad closeouts for only US$399, which is reportedly convincing prospective players to rearrange their launch schedules and delay for another 1-2 months with some some models that were previously unveiled perhaps never appearing in the channel, and that that non-iPad tablet products will do well to cumujlatively achieve a 20% market share in 2011.