Two new tablets based on Android 3.1 will hit the shelves in the U.S. Lenovo, China’s largest maker of personal computers, will be launching the IdeaPad Tablet K1 (from $499) and the Thinkpad Tablet (from $479).
Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 (from $499), orders from July 20, 2011; and the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet (from $479), available from August 2.
Lenovo began sales of its LePad tablet in China in March. Its two new tablet devices will be competing in a tightly fought market dominated by Apple’s iPad.
Lenovo's IdeaPad Tablet P1, based on Windows 7, is coming this fall.
Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo, the world’s three biggest makers of PCs, are introducing new tablets as the popularity of Apple’s iPad eats into demand for desktop and notebook computers.
Gartner reports that global PC shipments rose 2.3 percent in the three months ended June – much less than the 6.7 percent increase predicted by the research house.
Although the two tablets uses the Android operating system from Google, Lenovo plans to launch a new tablet- the IdeaPad Tablet K1 – in the fourth quarter based on the Windows 7 operating system from Microsoft.