Apple iPad Faces Challenge from TouchPad Internet Tablet Laptops Read more at Suite101: Apple iPad Faces Challenge from TouchPad Internet Tablet Lapt

Hanwang Technology Co., Limited, China’s leading tablet computer producer, will launch their stylish new internet tablets on next Tuesday (May 18, 2010), local web sites said on Monday (May 10, 2010).

"Touchpad looks very cool. We began to develop our tablet computer far before Apple did. We have confidence to defeat the Mac tablet in domestic market,” said Liu Ying Jian, President of Hanwang Technology on May 10, as quoted by the Beijing-based Sohu.com.

Liu said that the company will begin to sell two of their new tablet laptop models, Hanvon TouchPad B10 and TouchPad F10, in the Chinese market on May 18.

Hanvon TouchPad B10 and F10 Tablet Laptops will be Cheaper than Official Apple iPad

The Hanvon TouchPad B10 is heavier than iPad weighs between 600g to 800g depending on covers (plastic, aluminum or carbon fiber). In terms of specifications, TouchPad has dimensions of 9.6 x 7.2 x 0.55 inches, a 120GB hard drive, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 1.3MP webcams on front and back. It runs on Windows XP.

Liu Ying Jian said that the Hanvon TouchPad B10 would be sold in the Chinese market at 5,999 RMB yuan ($879), which will be cheaper than the Apple iPad sold through official channel in the market considering the high consumer taxes in China. But it will be more expensive than the smuggled iPad tablets.

Currently the smuggled iPad computers are sold in Mainland Chinese at the prices of from 4,500 yuan ($660) to 10,000 yuan ($1,470). As Apple will launch their oversea sales, the prices of smuggled iPad tablet computers will be going down in the near future.

Hanwang Technology began to develop and produce tablet PC since early 2000s. But their tablet computers never prevailed in the Chinese market due to the high prices – they were usually priced at around 20,000 RMB yuan ($2,940) and few consumers would buy them. Hanwang Technology planned to launch TouchPad this March. But the debut of Apple iPad forced the company to reconsider their price strategy and delayed the launch date of new tablets to this month.