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SPANISH TABLET maker Català Energy and New Technologies (NT-K) has filed a lawsuit against Apple for alleged extortion.

According to Spanish web site Tic Beat the battle between the firms began in November 2010 when Spanish customs impounded tablets designed and made by NT-K because it thought the Android tablet was a counterfeit of Apple’s Ipad.

Apple was granted a short-term customs ban against NT-K’s products, and the cappuccino company also filed criminal charges against NT-K after negotiations between the companies broke down.

NT-K won dismissal of Apple’s case in November 2011, and the firm now claims that Apple’s litigation should be considered extortion under Spanish law.

The Spanish company’s low cost NT-Pad K tablet was sold for €235 euros, less than half the €600 price of the Apple device.

NT-K says it will publish documents regarding its allegations on its blog next week. µ

INTERNET SEARCH GIANT Google might have revealed plans to launch a Nexus tablet within the next six months.

Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt spoke of the firm’s plans to launch a high-end tablet to Italian web site Corriere Della Sera. The Nexus brand isn’t specifically mentioned but we imagine Google would use the same name as its smartphones.

Schmidt said, “In the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality.”

The Nexus smartphones have been consistently popular and successful so it’s possible that the firm wants to extend that success into the tablet market. The tablet would have to pack some serious specifications to rival the Ipad 2 and Ipad 3, whatever that turns out to be.

Schmidt also spoke about continuing competition with rival vendors like Apple and said, “And in mobile communications, the smartphone market, you will see brutal competition between Apple and Google Android. It is capitalism.”

We would certainly be interested in checking out a high-end Nexus tablet from Google, so we hope that what Schmidt said comes to fruition. µ

TABLET COMPUTERS are still going strong, but sales were lower than expected in the third quarter, signalling a potential slowdown in growth.

18.1 million tablets were sold in the third quarter, 23.9 per cent higher than in the second quarter and 264.5 per cent higher than in the same period last year, but this was 5.8 per cent below the original forecast of 19.2 million units, according to a report by International Data Corporation (IDC).

Of course, there’s only so long high growth can last before device penetration becomes an obstacle to further growth. If everyone has a tablet already they are less likely to keep buying more of the things, and thus growth will drop from high double or triple digits to low double or even single digits.

Apple continued to dominate the tablet market, with 11.1 million units shipped, compared to 9.3 million in the previous quarter. However, its market share dropped slightly from 63.3 per cent to 61.5 per cent due to the extra competition in the sector, according to IDC.

HP shipped 903,354 Touchpads in the third quarter, marking the beginning and end of its foray into the tablet market. The move helped it secure a five per cent market share, earning the third spot behind Samsung’s 5.6 per cent market share for the Galaxy Tab. However, HP lost money on almost every Touchpad.

Despite the poorer than expected performance in the third quarter, IDC expects strong sales in the fourth quarter, primarily due to Christmas shopping. It has increased its forecast from 62.5 million units to 63.3 million, which should largely make up for the third quarter shortfall.

IDC also expects market share to shift considerably in the fourth quarter, with Android’s 32.4 per cent market share growing to 40.3 per cent, thanks largely to Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, which IDC believes will sell well thanks to its low price tag. µ

TIN BOX FLOGGER Dell has confirmed that it has stopped making its Streak 7 tablet.

Dell has decided to drop the 7in Android tablet. The firm sent us the following statement that avoids saying why it has pulled the device, though we think it’s likely that the 7in tablet just hasn’t sold well enough in a fiercely competitive market.

It said, “Dell remains committed to the mobility market and continues to sell products here and in other parts of the world. Streak 7 delivered a unique experience for customers who wanted a larger screen-size yet the freedom of staying connected to their personal and professional content while on the-go. It continues to be available in many markets through retail, distributors and carrier partners such as Optus in Australia.”

Dell launched the Streak 7 in the UK back in April. It already pulled the Streak 5 a few months ago. However, it is keen to point out that is has a number of other devices available, such as the Streak 10 Pro in China, plus the Venue, Venue Pro and the Windows 7 Latitude ST.

The firm added, “Dell is committed to the mobility space and is excited about new opportunities that mobility solutions and products will provide to our customers. We are also committed to expanding our reach beyond PCs with a targeted set of tablets and smartphones on open, standards-based mobility solutions and services designed for commercial and mobile professional customers. Our view is that these customer sets are underserved and we can bring our strengths to bear and make a difference with our approach.”

This confirms that Dell will launch devices such as smartphones and tablets in the future but there’s no clue as to what that they will look like or when they might tip up. Perhaps it should turn to its Alienware brand and launch mobile products for gamers. µ

KOREAN HARDWARE GIANT Samsung has released a video showing what could be a device of the future, a transparent and flexible tablet.

Samsung is keen to whet our technology appetites with a short video touting an amazing looking device capable of what seems like anything. Of course, this isn’t a gadget we’re likely to see any time soon but it’s good fun to see what might become a reality someday.

The video shows a user walking around the streets comfortably using a flexible and see through tablet that appears to able to increase in size, as well. We’re shown the device performing various tasks including video calling and even displaying some holograms.

Somehow the wafer thin display has a camera and a microphone built in and can even display images on both sides at the same time. The technology used is an AMOLED display, as are in Samsung’s products such as the Galaxy S II smartphone.

The company has been working on transparent screens like the ones we reported about earlier this year. We also saw something similar from Nokia recently called the Kinetic, which uses bending for navigation.

Of course we’re hoping that this device or one like it will tip up sooner rather than later so we can get it in for review. µ

TAIWANESE PC MAKER Acer has announced its Iconia Tab A200, a cut down version of its existing tablet.

We expected the A200 to be a follow-on from the A100 tablet, but at 10.1in it’s more of a sequel to the firm’s A500 model. Strangely not much has changed in comparison with the A500 that Acer launched earlier this year.

The A200 has a specifications sheet similar to that of its predecessor with the same Nvidia 1GHz Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM and a 2MP front facing camera. In other areas the tablet has been downgraded with only 8GB or 16GB of internal storage instead of 32GB and no rear facing camera.

With a newer model we expect the device to be thinner and lighter, which the A200 is. It is 0.9mm thinner at 12.4mm and 45g lighter at 720g than the A500, but this doesn’t look good when you stand it up against tablets like the Asus Transformer Prime, which is just 8.3mm thin and weighs only 586g.

Acer said, “Ideal for sharing good times via gaming, e-books, movies, music, photography, social networking and more, this tablet is an amazing hub of activity for people of all ages, and it comes at a very affordable price.”

The firm said that the tablet will come with Android 3.2 Honeycomb and that an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will arrive in January. The only reason for buying this rather unimpressive looking device that we can see is the “affordable price”.

The A200 will offer eight hour battery life, a microSD card slot, WiFi and a full sized USB port. It’s a bizarre effort from Acer that leaves us wondering how it will sell this. µ

CHINESE COMPUTER COMPANY Lenovo has teamed up with Qualcomm to offer multi-carrier capability to its Thinkpad tablet, which Lenovo claims makes it the first Android tablet to feature the technology.

The Thinkpad will now come with an option to include Qualcomm’s Gobi 3000 wireless internet chip, which will allow users to connect to any of the major mobile broadband carriers in the US without the need to change hardware.

The chip will also support global roaming on the EVDO (Evolution-Data Optimized) and HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) networks.

The technology won’t be a major selling point for those who don’t travel much, but given the portability of tablets more people will be taking them on holidays and business trips and will want 3G access.

“Our Gobi 3000 solution was designed to simplify 3G connectivity for mobile computing devices, like Lenovo’s ThinkPad Tablet,” said Fram Akiki, senior director of product management at Qualcomm. “With Gobi, Enterprise IT departments have the flexibility to purchase 3G-enabled tablets, deploy to offices around the world, then allow each region to provision on an as-needed basis to their preferred carrier.”

We checked the Lenovo online store and found that only the 32GB and 64GB versions offer the Gobi chip, leaving those interested in the 16GB model out of the loop. It also bumps the price up by 0, so you will have to weigh up how often you travel with your tablet before making the investment.

This feature is not yet available for UK or European carriers, but it is likely only a matter of time until users will be able to switch from one network to another as they travel across Europe. µ

FINNISH PHONE FIRM Nokia launched the Lumia 800 today but thoughts have already turned to follow-up devices and a Windows 8 tablet.

Whilst Nokia is busy hyping its launch of the Lumia 800 smartphone, news has come from France about the next versions of the device and a Windows 8 tablet.

Speaking about the Lumia 800, Paul Amsellem, head of Nokia in France told Les Echos, “It’s just the equivalent of the BMW 5 Series. We will soon have a full range with a Series 7 and Series 3.”

He also confirmed plans for a tablet on the next version of Microsoft’s operating system, saying, “And in June 2012, we will have a tablet running Windows 8.”

Likening the phone to a car isn’t common, but nevertheless he’s touting that various Lumia handsets will arrive that will be better than the Lumia 800. One of these could be the Nokia Champagne, which we heard about last week. That apparently will run Windows Phone 7.10 Tango.

Amsellem also spoke of the firm’s plans to boost its market share, saying, “More than 60 [per cent] of French people do not have smartphones and this is our target.” In France Nokia’s market share is less than 16 per cent now, compared to 25 per cent two years ago. µ

THE GREAT AND THE GOOD were out in swanky Mayfair on Monday night for the launch of Chinese manufacturer Huawei’s upcoming Vision smartphone and Mediapad tablet. Although the Mediapad is not due out in the UK until the first quarter of 2012, The INQUIRER managed to get its hands on one of the devices at the launch party.

The Mediapad is a 7in tablet running Android 3.2 Honeycomb. It has a unibody design, measuring 10.5mm thick and weighing 390g, and features a 1280×800 resolution touchscreen, which Huawei claims is full HD 720p capable.

The tablet has a very similar look and feel to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7in model. Compared to holding the 600g Ipad, it’s noticeably lighter, and we’ve always found 7in tablets much easier to type on in portrait mode while holding the device.

There wasn’t much lag when switching between landscape and portrait modes, however we didn’t find the Mediapad touchscreen as responsive as some those on other tablet models, especially the Ipad. It was also slower to load web pages than other models we’ve used, though the 3G connection could have had some part in this.

There’s a 5MP camera on the rear, and a 1.3MP front-facing camera for video calling. Video playback was smooth, although those buying a tablet mostly for watching video or TV will be better off opting for a 10in model.

The Mediapad has a 1.2Ghz Qualcomm processor, which Huawei said makes it fantastic for gaming. Certainly Angry Birds seemed to run well on the device.

It has WiFi, HSPA+ 3G and an HDMI port, and Huawei claims that the battery will last for more than six hours. The Mediapad will be priced at £330 in the UK.

As the Mediapad is very similar to the Samsung Galaxy Tab, we asked Huawei if it was concerned that Apple might start legal proceedings against the firm for copying the look and feel of the Ipad. However the spokesman said that Huawei was not concerned about that at all. He dismissed the Apple patent as being based on just one diagram, adding that he felt Samsung would be the eventual winner in that legal battle.

When we asked Huawei what the key differentiators are between its tablet and other existing models, it cited Android 3.2 Honeycomb and the full HD video feature. However, the 7in Acer Iconia Tab A100 already runs Android 3.2. The 1280×800 resolution is unique to the Mediapad among 7in tablets, although it’s common among 10in models.

Huawei is aiming the Mediapad at women, as it says that the current 10in tablet models are favoured by men and so it thinks there’s a gap in the market for a device that females can fit into their handbags. However, Huawei declined to share any sales targets for the tablet, so it’s hard to guess how successful the company thinks this tablet will be.

Overall we’d say that the price point of the Mediapad tablet could see it fall between the gaps. Currently tablet buyers seem to be after one thing – the Apple brand – and will dig deep in their pockets for an Ipad. However, the £300+ price tag will put the Mediapad out of reach of the bargain hunters who are after the cheaper models just to try out the tablet fad.

We’ll have a full review of the Mediapad out soon. µ

JAPANESE ELECTRONICS FIRM Panasonic has announced its Toughpad FZ-A1, a rugged 10.1in Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet.

The firm is describing the device as a tablet version of its Toughbook laptops. The Toughpad is due to tip up in spring of 2012 starting at €1,020 (£874) for the WiFi only model.

Hiroaki Sakamoto, MD at Panasonic said, “Now users in business and industry can also benefit from the ease of use and portability of tablet computing. Toughpad takes all the Toughbook experience of rugged computing we have gained since 1996 and focuses it into tablets designed for the workplace.”

The Toughpad FZ-A1 will be a 10.1in tablet equipped with a Marvell 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. Panasonic said it will make a 7in version of the Toughpad in the second half of 2012.

It is designed with ruggedness in mind for mobile workers in sectors such as construction, aviation, public safety and similar applications. To cater for these environments the Toughpad will have a drop rating of 120cm and be able to cope with extreme temperatures.

Other features include an anti-glare coating on the screen, a 10-hour replaceable battery, a 5MP rear camera and a dedicated security processor.

A 3G version of the Toughpad will be available for €1,199 (£1,027). µ