First Vietnamese brand tablet PC hits market in November?

The Hanoitimes - While the story about developing Vietnamese brand tablet PCs seems to fall into oblivion, HiPT Mobile has unexpectedly stated that its first tablet PC will hit the market in November 2011.

Big guys not interested in making tablet PCs any more

Since 2010, a lot of information technology “giants” have announced their plans to spend money o­n the research and development (R&D) of tablet PCs which bear Vietnamese brands.

Commenting about the announcement, analysts said the plans of the technology giants prove to be completely feasible, and that o­nce the products are marketed, they will be the “Vietnamese technology’s pride.”

CMS, and then Hanel announced the plan to make tablet PCs. After that, in May 2011, HiPT Mobile and FPT Mobile both stated that they have joined the race for making tablets.

However, hi-tech players cannot hear any further information about the tablet PCs so far. The giants have not taken any further steps showing that the plan to launch their products into the market in a near future.

Buu dien has quoted its sources as saying that CMS and Hanel have given up the plan to develop and commercialize tablet PCs which bear Vietnamese brands, while o­nly FPT Mobile’s and HiPT Mobile’s prove to be feasible.

However, FPT Mobile has declined to provide any information relating to the development of tablet PCs. o­nly HiPT Mobile has unexpectedly affirmed that it is launching its first table into the market in some days.

Do Giang Vinh, Director of HiPT Mobile, has affirmed that HiPT Mobile is taking final steps to finalize the product commercialization plan.

“We will begin the large scale production in October, and we plan to launch the first products into the market in November,” Vinh said.

He has revealed that the products target school students, and that HiPT is making every effort to make its products competitive in the domestic tablet market.

Pi still plays solo o­n the market

While the biggest guys in the information technology market such as FPT Mobile, CMS, or Hanel, HiPT all keep silent about their products, a less known company – Pi Vietnam – has continuously launched a series of table PC products, advertised as Vietnamese products. In fact, this is a company which has its headquarters located in China and branch in Vietnam.

About ten products have been continuously launched by the company to the domestic market since May 2011. The latest versions were launched in September – N002 and N002 HD with 7 inch screens with the feature of making calls. The appearance of a series of Pi Vietnam’s versions has been called “Pi Vietnam phenomenon”.

However, the tablet users’ community said that they have got too tired of the products which are sourced from China and bear Vietnamese names, while they expect to see the Vietnamese products to be manufactured by well known technology firms such as FPT Mobile, CMS, Hanel, or HiPT Mobile.

While Pi Vietnam calls its products “Vietnamese”, analysts think that they cannot clearly see the factors that prove the products are “Vietnamese”.

“Even the trademark “Pi” cannot persuade me that this is a Vietnamese product,” a member of Tinh Te information technology forum commented.

Buu dien’s reporters tried to contact Pi Vietnam to ask about the factors that can prove that the company’s products are “Vietnamese”. However, to date, Pi has not provided any convincing proof.

Several months ago, when talking with reporters in May 2011, Vinh from HiPT said that it will integrate applications to tablet PCs in order to make its products more competitive. Meanwhile, Le Hoang Hai, Deputy Director of FPT Mobile, has also said that F-Store app store would be a competitive edge of FPT’s tablets.