The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this past weekend provided a few answers to some lingering questions in the tablet PC market, and brought even more announcements of new tablets to come, emphasizing just how crowded a market that was competition-free one year ago can get.
Here are some of the major takeaways from MWC 2011:
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ)
H-P unveiled the HP TouchPad, a 9.7-inch tablet PC due out this summer. The device is running WebOS 3.0, a software release that marks the end of the Palm brand, and the beginning of H-P’s efforts to stamp the tablet market with its own software platform while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is still potentially vulnerable. H-P has a couple of content bonuses in its machine thanks to a major deal with Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) Time Inc. magazines . Tablet-only subscriptions will be available for Sports Illustrated, Fortune, People, and Time. Print subscribers will also get free access to tablet editions, a policy that was at the core of Time’s feud with Apple over tablet publications.
Motorola (NYSE:MMI)
While Motorola hasn’t specified an exact release date and price for the Xoom tablet in the U.S. — Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) ads claim it will come out on Feb. 24 and will cost up to $1,199 for the 3G model supported by Verizon (NYSE:VZ) — it has at least clarified the device’s European release — it will hit western Europe at the beginning of the second quarter. The news is significant as it comes along with confirmation that Motorola would be producing a WiFi-only model of the tablet that will presumably be cheaper than the 3G model.
Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM)
RIM’s first tablet PC will include 4G models that will be released alongside the 3G and WiFi-only BlackBerry PlayBooks later this spring. The new PlayBook will offer both HSPA+ and LTE 4G models which will also include WiFi communications technology. Though RIM still hasn’t revealed a price for the PlayBook, the breadth of models available at release suggests that the bottom-tier WiFi-only model will be able to hit the sub-$500 price point RIM co-CEO Jim Balsille committed to last fall. The BlackBerry PlayBook is due out in March or April with support from Sprint (NYSE:S). Balsille told the Wall Street Journal on Monday that support from AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon should be announced soon.
Other manufacturers made significant announcements as well. LG took the lid off the G-Slate, an 8.9-inch tablet running Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Honeycomb platform that will be coming to T-Mobile USA’s network later this year. Samsung also will update its Galaxy Tab tablet with the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which will also run on Google’s Honeycomb. Both devices look comparable to Motorola’s Xoom, but it remains to be seen if they will distinguish themselves with unique functionality or, more significantly, more competitive pricing.
All of these new tablets will need to undercut Apple on price to succeed. Motorola has positive hype building around the Xoom thanks to a popular Super Bowl commercial and H-P’s TouchPad has a fighting chance thanks to strong content partners like Time Warner and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), but unless those machines can release at price points that undercut the original iPad (which is undoubtedly getting a price cut when the iPad 2 comes out in the second quarter), they don’t stand a chance of taking Apple’s crown.
At the time of publication, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
