Sony introduces two new tablets

Sony Corp. (SNE) is the newest company to try its hand in the tablet market, showing off two tablets that operate on Honeycomb, also known as Google Inc.’s Android 3.0, at a press conference in Tokyo, Japan. The initial names of the tablets are the S1 and S2, neither of which has received official prices as of yet. Sony says both tablets will have a touch panel similar to Apple Inc.’s iPad and that Sony’s technology will allow for smooth and fast access to online content.
The S1 tablet boasts a 9.4-inch display, which Sony says is ideal for watching movies, playing video games or reading e-books. The smaller S2 has two 5.5-inch screens and folds into itself like a book.
Both devices come ready to connect to Sony’s library of music, movies, digital books and PlayStation video games. The announcement of the tablets comes at a time when Sony’s online offerings for the PlayStation Network are crippled with the outage and crash of the gaming network. Sony has said it was caused by an “external intrusion” and the company will rebuild its system with the addition of extra security measures to buffer its infrastructure.
It may be difficult for Sony to compete with Apple, which has sold 19.5 million iPads through the latest quarter. Goldman Sachs recently made a report that estimates Apple will keep a 64% share of the tablet market for 2011.
“There are many people who haven’t bought an iPad yet,” said Kunimasa Suzuki, senior VP of Sony in a press conference at Tokyo headquarters. “These products are symbolic for Sony and show the direction we are headed.”
Suzuki acknowledged the difficulty in competing with Apple, and said Sony wasn’t expecting to conquer the iPad empire for “several years” but would like to position itself as a strong No. 2.