[obiwan22]

I copied this message form the vice president of Augen"We are at the final stages of releasing an entire new line of products which incorporates the newest technology and concepts, that will make a difference in your every day lives. We encourage you our Gen Nation, to follow the exciting products that Augen will be unveiling in the very near future. We are here to put the world at your fingertips and take you beyond the realm of the market that exists today, bringing you with us into a new era of open world communication and computing."My question is: how can augen release new products where they already have a bad reputations for the genbook and gentouch.

 

[lawman]

They can fix those problems. Dirt cheap goes a long way to shortening memories, especially if they can get a qc balance and get google off their back.

 

[cpg716]

[quote name='lawman;33593]They can fix those problems. Dirt cheap goes a long way to shortening memories' date=' especially if they can get a qc balance and get google off their back.[/QUOTE'] Agreed. And if they do get a reputation of supporting their devices with patches, upgrades, etc.. Then the community will embrace them more.Also, if its cheap, and they sell it at Kmart etc, then people who have no clue who Augen is will pick them up. The stores around me all had the Genbooks in stock when I was looking for the Gentouch, and they were all sold by the time my Gentouch was in.CPG

 

[cutterjohn]

I had been wondering about that as well, but it seems kind of odd to release new products again right after releasing their reader, netbook, and tablet... so I thought that he MAY have been referring to those.

 

[tipstir]

New product line. That means they can't do much with Gentouch 78. If that's the case, might well all turn in our GenTouch 78 since Kmart gives us all 90 days for returns/exchanges/refunds. I wonder what the net Gentouch would be like?

 

[H.P.]

http://venturebeatprofiles.com/company/profile/augen-electronicshttp://www.corporationwiki.com/Florida/Hollywood/augen-electronics-corp-6210999.aspxIf you want to find out more about the co, you can spider-out your search, using names of relevant principals.From my cursory lookup, they're a small co trying to get a headstart on the new tablet market. They have the same problem as every other startup, i.e. getting a tablet with stable firmware.As far as new tablets from them, that's a virtual certainty. But they have no R&D, so whatever future products they have will be rebranded stuff that everyone else has. No doubt it'll be better quality than the current GT78, but it won't be anything unique. The key point is support, and they haven't demonstrated that they have the staff to get the problems fixed. Maybe they will, maybe they won't.My view is that they're in the same boat as with the Enso's and Flatcomputing's out there. They're all trying to get some traction. Augen's advantage is that they've got a good distribution deal. Whether they can keep it is a question.The updated Kmart blog said that Kmart will expand their tablet products. So, whether it's Augen or somebody else, there'll be more on tap.

 

[cutterjohn]

Maybe they are moving to another ODM, which would explain kmart's blog comment wrt "other solutions".......also read an article this morning that TI licensed Cortex-A9 from ARM...

 

[H.P.]

The recent TI licensing announcement is for the next-gen Cortex, i.e. one after the A9. That reportedly won't show up until 2012, when as Cusack has shown we'll have bigger things to worry about.I'm getting a scuba suit and a jet ski w/ an extended fuel tank.

 

[mindwave]

talking about kmart expanding their tablets I just saw an ad on their site, while searching the GT78 for what appears to be a netslate.running an atom and winxp w/ 60GB HD for $450 (?)thats a little higfh dollar for their crowd, but it looked pretty good

 

[cutterjohn]

[quote name='mindwave;34396]talking about kmart expanding their tablets I just saw an ad on their site' date=' while searching the GT78 for what appears to be a netslate.running an atom and winxp w/ 60GB HD for $450 (?)thats a little higfh dollar for their crowd, but it looked pretty good[/QUOTE']Do you mean this:http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_...keyword=tablet&prdNo=3&blockNo=3&blockType=G3one? Might be makeable into a hackintosh slate, but not what I'm looking for...

 

[blazingwolf]

[quote name='cutterjohn;34398]Do you mean this:[URL]http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_10104_020V002624908000P?keyword=tablet&prdNo=3&blockNo=3&blockType=G3[/URL]one? Might be makeable into a hackintosh slate' date=' but not what I'm looking for...[/QUOTE'] Hmm, I would guess not. That is $499 and running Windows 7.I'm betting this one.http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_10104_36800000SEACT9XPP?mv=rr

 

[mindwave]

blazing:thats the one.cute, but its a touchscreen netbooksome uses, but for me more of a toy.my boss just got a new toughbook, VERY nice and "Feels" lighter than an IPAD.j

 

[H.P.]

That Kmart slate uses the 1st-gen Atom intended for netbooks, read: you'll be lucky if battery lasts an hour. Current lo-power Atom is the Z5xx. But if you want a Win7 pad, wait until the MS roll-out later this year. MS should have Win7 streamlined enough so it's a slightly smaller power-hog. We should also see the Z6xx w/ on-chip GPU, aka Lincroft on the Moorestown platform. That combo should suffice for a 5-hr play time on the 9/10" size. But it'll be next year when Medfield shows up that Intel may be able to play ball with ARM.The flip side is that it won't be cheap. Apple has thrown the Wintel camp a curveball by pricing the iPad as low as it is, so what normally would be priced at $800-1000, you'll see for $500 and up. Good news if you gotta have a Win7 pad.

 

[blazingwolf]

Sorry, $500 is not low. You can't tell me that Apple couldn't lower the price on this. They charge way to much for their stuff.

 

[clockworx]

How convenient, I just looked this link up for another discussion over in PDN. May as well post it here too

http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns-Ma...ectronic-Design-iSuppli-Teardown-Reveals.aspxEstimate to build the 16GB iPad - $260 (and has probably dropped since then)

 

[cutterjohn]

[quote name='H.P.;34511]That Kmart slate uses the 1st-gen Atom intended for netbooks' date=' read: you'll be lucky if battery lasts an hour. Current lo-power Atom is the Z5xx. But if you want a Win7 pad, wait until the MS roll-out later this year. MS should have Win7 streamlined enough so it's a slightly smaller power-hog. We should also see the Z6xx w/ on-chip GPU, aka Lincroft on the Moorestown platform. That combo should suffice for a 5-hr play time on the 9/10" size. But it'll be next year when Medfield shows up that Intel may be able to play ball with ARM.The flip side is that it won't be cheap. Apple has thrown the Wintel camp a curveball by pricing the iPad as low as it is, so what normally would be priced at $800-1000, you'll see for $500 and up. Good news if you gotta have a Win7 pad.[/QUOTE']No they haven't. Apple as usual has at a minimum a 30% profit margin to them on the iPad, guarantee you. It's a c. $250ish piece of hw with gross markups dependent upon whether or not you want 3G... and they give you ZERO break for going 3G with crappy AT&T screw everybody plans... and craptacular AT&T coverage outside of major metropolitan areas... (I'd given them a slight break for Verizon as they have kickass coverage... always had that.)

 

[H.P.]

Ah, that's the beauty of it. Yes, Apple gets its usual fat cut, but that's because it's simply going from its iPhone platform, not from its PC platform. The Wintel side has to match the $500 price point by using PC components, which cost more.That's why PC slates never caught on. Aside from being too big/heavy/short battery life, they're also too expensive.Prior to the iPad launch, everyone was expecting a starting price point of ~$800 for the base model. That it was "only" $500 made the whole industry recalibrate their pricing structure. The HP slate was to be $800-ish. It never launched because it can't compete pricewise against the iPad. Other upcoming tablets won't have much if any pricing advantage against the iPad. The only way to beat Apple on price is to use an ARM platform, which for now means going with Android. But Android still isn't ready for tablets, and anyway it's not an option for either Intel or MS. So it's a bit of a quandary for all the co's. Apple caught them with their pants down.

 

[cutterjohn]

[quote name='H.P.;34556]Ah' date=' that's the beauty of it. Yes, Apple gets its usual fat cut, but that's because it's simply going from its iPhone platform, not from its PC platform. The Wintel side has to match the $500 price point by using PC components, which cost more.That's why PC slates never caught on. Aside from being too big/heavy/short battery life, they're also too expensive.Prior to the iPad launch, everyone was expecting a starting price point of ~$800 for the base model. That it was "only" $500 made the whole industry recalibrate their pricing structure. The HP slate was to be $800-ish. It never launched because it can't compete pricewise against the iPad. Other upcoming tablets won't have much if any pricing advantage against the iPad. The only way to beat Apple on price is to use an ARM platform, which for now means going with Android. But Android still isn't ready for tablets, and anyway it's not an option for either Intel or MS. So it's a bit of a quandary for all the co's. Apple caught them with their pants down.[/QUOTE']Sorry to burst your bubble homer, but there's NO fat CUT out, just fat added fictitiously...

 

[H.P.]

Dude, you need to read a little better. And get off your anti-Apple rant. It's childish.

 

[H.P.]

Dude, you should learn to read a little better. And get off the anti-Apple rant. It's childish.