A company in Germany, Berlin-based Neofonie, which employees a small army of some 180 people is coming out with their own version of a tablet called the WePad. The company indicated they already are drumming up interest in the new device and have a list of about 20k people who are anxious to place an order. The company states they will begin taking orders on April 27th with a projected release date sometime in July of this year.
So what is going to make the WePad different? According to one article it states that:
The WePad’s basic version, which comes with Wi-Fi and 16-gigabyte storage, is set to cost €449 ($600), the larger 32-gigabyte version with a fast 3G modem is €569.Two USB ports allow users to connect all kinds of devices with the WePad, from external keyboards to data sticks.The WePad, with its 11.6-inch (29.5-centimeter) screen, is powered by an Intel chip and relies on a Linux software basis which is compatible with Google’s Android and all Flash applications.
So does it look like an iPad? You decide.
The first thing that popped into my mind was that this company could potentially be setting itself up for a lawsuit using the name WePad. Apple may think that this is to close of a name association to their iPad brand. We have seen this before from Companies that wish to smash the competition. The German based company may be to small to fight litigation in court against a mega billion dollar corporation.
I believe that we will see an avalanche of iPad clones coming this year.
Comments welcome.
Via Lockergnome
