HTC to launch Flyer to India

The competition is heating up for 'tablets' in India, with Taiwanese handset maker now bringing its 'Flyer' to India in the next few weeks. "HTC Flyer will be launched shortly, in the next couple of weeks," HTC Corporation President (South Asia) Lennard Hoornik said.

HTC Flyer's competitors in India include Samsung's Galaxy Tab, Blackberry Playbook, Motorola Xoom and the Apple iPad. The seven-inch touch screen tablet has a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It has 1GB of RAM and an in-built memory of 16GB and a 5 megapixel camera. Though the company declined to comment on the pricing, it maintained that it would be "competitive with other devices".
     


Blackberry Playbook is expected to be launched in the country by the end of the month (pricing not announced), while Apple iPad (priced at about Rs. 29,500) and Samung's Galaxy Tab (about Rs. 26,000) are already available here. The price of the PlayBook in India could range between Rs. 22,000 and Rs. 32,000, depending upon its storage capacity, from 16 GB to 64 GB. Globally, PlayBook is available at USD 499, USD 599 and USD 699 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions, respectively.
     


Since the launch of Apple's iPad, the tablet market is witnessing huge competition, with new contenders launching their devices.  Apple's rival in the computing space, Dell had launched the 'Streak' last year in India, while homegrown telecom handset makers like Spice and Olive have also launched similar devices at much lower price points.

According to analysts, sales in the tablet PC segment in India are expected to touch one million units over the next 12 months. With 3G (high-speed internet services) being rolled out aggressively, the opportunity has only expanded, they said.