When chipmaker Marvell told us its technology
would power $99 smartphones, we took the company at its word. We weren't expecting a sub-$100, 10-inch tablet PC, however -- and we definitely weren't expecting Marvell itself to build it. Marketed at students looking to lighten their textbook load, the Marvell Moby will be an "always-on, high performance multimedia tablet" capable of full Flash support and 1080p HD playback -- thanks to those nifty
Armada 600 series processors -- and supporting WiFi, Bluetooth, FM radio, GPS and both Android and Windows Mobile platforms for maximum flexibility. No release date has yet been announced; like the
OLPC, Marvell will introduce the Moby in pilot programs at participating at-risk schools. While it's far too early to say if the Moby will be the universal educational e-reader Marvell hopes (that depends on
software), it's certainly an intriguing device for the price, and we'll admit we're a touch jealous of those kids who'll first get to try one.
posted March 19th 2010 2:20AM
I cannot imagine what kind of problems it would have to have for them to build and sell it at $100 and not be able to sell every last one they can build.
I would buy one straight away...
In such a case, the question goes from "Is it as good as an ipad (or whatever)?", to "Is an ipad worth X hundreds of dollars more?".
@savagemike "Is an ipad worth X hundreds of dollars more?" Not when it doesn't do flash.
for $99 i'd buy one even if i don't really need it.
bring on the buy1get1 deal ala OLPC
Hmm who knows, will take a wait and see approach.
Man, I wish I had a tablet instead of a texbook going through school. Shit, I'm in my last year of high school now, so I'm hardly the typical old timer looking back 20 years at their child hood, but still. This would be kinda cool.