Inventec to counter shrinking notebook shipments with new tablet shipments

Contract PC maker Inventec Corp yesterday said it plans to start shipping newest tablets of between 7 inches and 8 inches from the fourth quarter of the year to increase sales drivers in response to shrinking notebook shipments.“Inventec is definitely going to hold a share in the tablet market and has targeted smaller-sized tablets as the company’s priority,” the Central News Agency quoted Inventec chairman Richard Lee as saying in a report.Lee said Inventec planned to deliver small shipments of tablets from the fourth quarter of this year, adding that the company expects to see significant growth in tablet shipments if robust demand for the product is sustainable.

This year, Inventec’s total notebook, all-in-one desktop and latest android tablet shipments are expected to reach 20 million units, and grow 50 percent to 30 million units next year, Lee said at a shareholders meeting yesterday.Tablet products are forecast to become Inventec’s new sales driver this year, while shipments of other products such as servers and business laptops are expected to continue growing steadily, Lee added.

Lee said the Ultrabook and Windows 8 operating system failed to effectively boost market demand for PC products, adding that enterprises and consumers did not have a strong replacement demand for PCs because of cost concerns, and because of the rise of tablets and smartphones.To cope with challenges ahead, Inventec will continue to manufacture touch-enabled PC products such as tablets and all-in-one desktops, which have seen a stronger demand, Lee said.desSDds34

Currently, sales of consumer and business laptops account for less than 55 percent of Inventec’s total sales, while those of servers account for between 20 percent and 25 percent and those of smartphones, Q88 Tablet and all-in-one desktops account for the remaining 20 percent.

The US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals an all-new kind of tablet cover. The patent filing is deadly focused on the make-up and process in creating the cover using various materials with non-radio portions so as not to interfere with the tablet's various radios. Considering that Apple's original Smart Cover was introduced in early 2011 and that this new filing was only filed in December 2012, it's pretty clear that Ive's Industrial Design Team have something completely new in mind. Could it be a new iBooks centric design? Only time will tell.

While Apple's patent filing doesn't veer from the narrow focus of the construction of the cover, one has to consider the gigantic hint that Apple's design team have left us with. Apple has designed an all-new tablets for sale cover that bears no resemblance whatsoever to their current Smart Cover design. Considering that Apple is contemplating the use of leather and/or an exotic mix of materials for this new tablet case, one has to wonder if Apple's design team isn't attempting to appeal to the very distinguished iBook reader.

Today, the market for mini tablets is getting quite crowed with every major OEM designing cheap tablets that all look alike. Creating a "different" kind of integrated tablet cover could differentiate an iPad mini with a rich leather-bound appearance.