Acer and ASUS recently launched their own affordable 7 inch tablets, selling for around $149 or so. Acer has the cheap Iconia B1, while ASUS has the also cheap MeMo Pad. Google is very happy with that progress, since such affordable models will increase the penetration of Android on the market.
Acer will launch 7 inch tablets packing MediaTek processors in Asia and South America first, with a price tag between $99 and $149. The launch will go down at the end of January and target shipments are between 500k and 600 units for the first quarter, according to sources close to the matter. ASUS will also launch its 7 inch $149 tablets in Taiwan, China, India and South American at the end of the current month.
Their target shipments are 5 million units for 2013 and in order to decrease production costs, Asustek went with processors developed by VIA Technologies. The touch panels and components were supplied by second tier companies, apparently. This is only the start, since other companies will follow these two’s example and build cheaper Android tablets. Through this development, Android tablets may reach over 50% of all slates sold this year.
