VIA Predicts Stiff Competition for iPad with $100 Android Tablets

If you're in the market for a low-cost tablet, hang tight, because several affordable models are on the way, says VIA's Richard Brown, vice president of marketing at VIA. In an interview with Bloomberg, Brown said he expects about five different models ranging in price from $100 to $150 to be available in the second half of 2010, all of which will sport a VIA processor inside.

All five models will be built around Google's open-source Android platform, which will play a big role in keeping the overall cost to a minimum.

"The tablet market has been legitimized by Apple," Brown said. "Android is bringing a lot of diversity to the market. There are different sizes and different looks and feels."

Taking down Apple will be no easy task, however, as the Cupertino company has already sold over a million iPads during their first month on sale and just recently launched to an international market. How the upcoming VIA-powered tablets compare remains to be seen, though Brown did say VIA is offering an ARM-based processor the for the new tablets.

ARM Expects to Power Half of all Tablet PCs in 2011

Intel's Atom architecture has pretty much become ubiquitous with netbooks, and with tablets shaping up to be the next biggest fad in mobile computing, you can bet the Santa Clara chip maker will look to duplicate its success. Standing in Intel's way, however, is ARM.

ARM has no intention of letting Intel dominate the tablet PC sector the way it has netbooks, and according to Bob Morris, ARM's director of Mobile Computing, ARM processors will wiggle their way into 50 percent of global tablet PCs by 2011.

That works out to a lot of tablets. By Morris' estimation, global tablet PC shipments will total 4 million units by the end of 2010, and then balloon to 21 million units in 2011. Morris also said that Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Sharp have already adopted ARM-based processors for their smartbooks and tablets.