挑战苹果的“iPad杀手”即将登场 采用Android 2.2

苹果iPad发布之后，平板电脑市场即将迎来第一次来自主要的消费电子制造商的挑战，这就是LG电子。不久前，LG电子宣布其变形金刚(Optimus)系列即将登场。

苹果的iPad平板电脑目前已经销售了数百万台。有多家PC厂商已经涉足平板电脑领域，包括戴尔、华硕、宏碁和微星等。

LG首款Optimus品牌产品将是加载了Android的平板电脑，同时还包括号称“iPhone杀手”的定制Optimus-One和Optimus-Chic。也有传闻称，今年晚些时候，LG竞争对手，韩国消费电子制造商三星也将会发布定制的“iPad杀手”——银河平板电脑(Galaxy Tablet)。

到今年年底，几乎所有主要的消费电子产品制造商都将发布类iPad产品，这些触摸屏用户界面大多将采用各式各样的移动Linux系统。

关于Optimus系列，LG电子只透露了很少的细节，只表示预计在今年内将会有10款产品陆续发布，每一款产品都会包含一些苹果iPad和iPhone所不具备的复合功能，而且它们也将采用不同的操作系统，包括诸如Android、Windows 7，以及Windows Mobile 6等多种移动操作系统。

前不久在台北的Computex 2010展会上展出了十几款类iPad的平板电脑，预计其他制造商的平板电脑产品将会延续其在展会上的发展方向。然而，LG电子声称，其新型平板电脑将会以卓越的性能、轻薄的外形超越上述这些竞争对手。

LG电子也像其他消费电子厂商一样，是继苹果宣布了iPad之后，立即克隆了苹果的设备，然后再针对苹果“放之四海而皆准”的策略，以各种各样的应用功能和不同的价位来吸引消费者。 这一战略已经成功地应用在了类iPhone手机对抗iPhone上，据报道，Android智能手机的销售量已经超越了苹果的iPhone手机。

LG电子称已经进行了广泛的市场调查，可以确定消费者在智能移动设备方面的需求，并声称：随着快速的响应和用户友好的进步，“易于查找信息是首位的需求”。

LG的新Optimus系列智能消费电子产品：Optimus-One和Optimus-Chic将很快推出，它们将采用最新的Android 2.2(Froyo)操作系统。

谷歌Android的开源平台已经非常成功地模仿了各种苹果应用商店的应用程序，搭载了谷歌Android系统的Optimus系列智能手机也已经在市场上获得了成功。而Optimus-One智能手机将包括类似于iPod的多媒体功能，可以播放音乐和观看移动视频。Optimus-Chic将采用流畅的线条设计，LG电子希望这些新产品能够引发移动互联时代的新的热潮。

分析称，在美国，平板电脑的销售量有望实现大幅增长，从今年预估的350万台提高到2015年的2,040万台。到2014年，使用平板电脑的人数会超越使用上网本的人数，而到2015年，平板电脑将占所有PC销售的23%。

点击第二页：参考原文(LG previews line of iPad/iPhone rivals, by R. Colin Johnson)

翻译/增值：Ana Hu

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LG previews line of iPad/iPhone rivals

Korean consumer electronics giant promises ten Optimus-branded devices to debut in 2010

by R. Colin Johnson

The first major consumer electronics maker to follow Apple's iPad into the coming blitz of smart touchscreen tablets will be LG Electronics, which announced its Optimus Series on Monday (July 5, 2010).

Kicking off the new Optimus brand will be LG's Android Tablet PC, along with its intended iPhone killers, the Optimus-One and -Chic models. Later this year rival Korean consumer electronics maker, Samsung, is rumored to also begin delivering its intended iPad killer, code named the "Galaxy Tablet."

By year's end, iPad work-a-likes will debut from every major consumer electronics maker, each sporting the touchscreen user interface running variants of mobile LInux.

LG gave only a few scant details about its Optimus series, except to say that a range of 10 models--from budget to premium--would debut this year. Each will include various combination of features not offered by Apple's iPad and iPhone, and will run different operating systems (OSs), including variations of mobile Linux, such as Android, as well as either Windows new Phone 7 OS or its older Windows Mobile 6 OS.

Other manufacturers predicted similar grow paths for 2010 at the recent Computex show, held earlier this month in Taipei, Taiwan where almost two dozen iPad-like touchscreen tablet prototypes were displayed. LG, however, claims that its touchscreen tablet will surpass these competitors with superior performance as well as a thinner and lighter form factors (the latter of which critics have complained about with regard to Apple's iPad).

LG, like the rest of the consumer electronics industry, is following the model taken by competitors when the iPhone was announced by Apple--namely, to immediately clone the Apple device (this time the iPad), then follow with a variety of models at different price points, and with different feature sets, aimed at luring consumers away from Apple's one-size-fits-all approach. That strategy worked against the iPhone, since Android-based smartphones are now reported to be out-selling the Apple original, some of which are virtually identical in appearance to the iPhone.

LG claims to have done extensive market research to identify the capabilities that consumers desire in a smart mobile device, claiming that "ease of finding information is the top motivator," along with fast response and user friendliness.

LG'S new Optimus line of smart consumer devices will also include new smartphones, the first of which is its "Optimus One with Google" for technophiles and the Optimus Chic for technophobes--both of which will debut soon using the latest Android 2.2 (Froyo) OS.

The Optimus smartphones have been integrated with Google's Android Market which mimics the highly successful Apple App Store but for smartphones running the Android open-source OS. The Optimus One will also include the iPod-like multimedia capabilities for playing music and viewing mobile video. The Optimus Chic features sleek design lines that LG hopes will lure techno-phobes into joining the mobile Internet craze.