Qualcomm’s tablet strategy is becoming clearer. The company set up a research and development engineering center in Brazil to develop tablet designs and technologies to sell a near-complete product to manufacturers. “The goal is to help manufacturers build affordable tablets by releasing Qualcomm reference design and technology,” said Rafael Steinhauser, senior vice president and Latin American president for Qualcomm, during a press meeting in São Paulo this week.
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The concept goes further than the Qualcomm’s smartphone guidelines. For tablets, Qualcomm plans to deliver a prototype with hardware and chipset included. The reference design started to be developed during the second half of this year. “Manufacturers will be able to use our entire tablet product and make required adjustments and customizations. But we know several of them will only use the chipset,” Roberto Medeiros, project developer director at Qualcomm Latin America, told RCR Wireless News.
Qualcomm is developing tablets with 3G, Wi-Fi and LTE connections. The main goal behind this move, however, is to make the tablet affordable in the Brazilian market. Currently, Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab are too expensive for the majority of consumers in Brazil, and Qualcomm is aiming at the entry-level market.
According to Medeiros, Qualcomm is in the advanced stages of the process. “Manufacturers have conditions to launch tablets by the second quarter of 2013,” he said. However, Medeiros did not reveal the names of the firms that have deals with Qualcomm for the tablets’ technology. However, Qualcomm may follow the same course it took with smartphones by engaging in partnerships with Brazil’s Positivo, CCE (which was bought by Lenovo), Gradiente and STI.
Qualcomm could also export the tablet technology and product design to other countries outside of Brazil. Medeiros did not release any further details, but he did say the export possibility is under evaluation.
Qualcomm’s journey into the tablet market is well-known. In July, the company released its first quad-core Snapdragon chip and showed some product benchmarketing. At that time, Qualcomm presented a tablet that the company uses internally to test processing capability. The tablet was noticed by C-Net.
