Every once in a while a manufacturer ups the ante and does something completely outside the creativity box. If it is a success, the company is seen as “a creative and challenging the norm” kind of business (The Kinect from Microsoft is a very good example of this “trend”). If the new product is a disaster which happens fairly often (just think about the Microsoft based Kin phone) for certain manufacturers, it leads to cries for termination of staff etc. and a lot of negative press.
So Asus has done the unthinkable and have created the Padfone which features a smart phone that can go inside a Tablet and powers the Tablet. Yes. You read that and I am not kidding. I believe the inspiration for this contraption is found from Motorola and its Atrix range. The one thing that I think will benefit Asus is the fact that this tablet/phone will feature the Android operating software. It is a matter of time until Android becomes the dominant player in mobile device environment in terms of software.
Do I think this could be a game changer? Potentially, but it is very network dependant and will depend heavily on how Asus does the execution for the Padfone. If the synch functionality between the smart phone and the tablet is not able to be noticed then I believe Asus could get early adopters to purchase the Padfone. Could this be the next possible iteration for the tablet industry?
The launch date for the Asus Padfone has yet to be confirmed for South Africa.
