Analysts expect ZTE Corporation to benefit from its decision to enter the tablet personal computer (tablet PC) market, which is a hot sector right now due to the runaway success of Apple's iPad.

ZTE, China's second-biggest telecoms equipment maker could start selling their first model as early as January 2011, the company's deputy general manager of mobile broadband products, Wang Yong, said Monday. It plans to roll out six other models next year as well.

The announcement follows the official launch of ZTE's first tablet PC last week, which features Google's free Android operating system but has yet to reach the market.

"If ZTE prices its tablet PC in the range of 2,000 to 3,000 yuan, a competitive offer compared with the hot-selling iPad, I believe sales prospects for its products will be quite promising," said Joseph Ho, an analyst with Daiwa Capital Market.

Global tablet PC sales will reach almost 20 million this year, buoyed by strong sales of the iPad, according to figures released by information technology research and consulting firm Gartner last week. The group has forecast that sales will expand rapidly at 54.8 million units in 2011 and 208 million by 2014.

The retail price for iPad's cheapest model was less than 4,000 yuan on the mainland - and even cheaper in Hong Kong and the United States.

Apple Inc in late June announced that it had already sold 3 million iPads just 80 days after it was put on the market in April.

The official launch of the iPad in China in mid-September also attracted hundreds of customers, who queued up for it despite the fact that it had already been on the shelves in other parts of the world for five months.

"The cheaper price suggests a very huge market for tablet PC makers," said Ho.

ZTE has already received orders from European and Asia Pacific telecom operators for its new tablet PCs, according to the company's Wang.

Alvin Chung, an associate director at Prudential Brokerage, said that moving into the tablet PC market is a smart move given the market potential.

"ZTE's tablet PC even edges out iPad in some aspects as it supports the popular TD-SCDMA network while the latter does not," said Chung.

China Daily

(HK Edition 10/19/2010 page3)