If you thought “iPad” was a silly name, wait ‘til you hear about “WePad”…
We’ve refrained from covering the mooted new entrant to the nascent tablet space until now because the idea of a small, independent iPad challenger from Germany sounded like it would collapse like CrunchPad before emerging from vapourware.
But Neofonie, the Berlin-based company behind the gadget last night held a launch event for about 100 journalists – and, despite looking identical on the outside, WePad is apparently everything iPad’s not…
The WePad is extensible, packing two USB ports, slots for memory and SIM cards, multitasking and an integrated webcam. And it’s open, basing its WePad OS on a Linux variant that supports Flash, Java and access to Android Marketplace and other app stores through its WePad Store “meta-store”.
The WePad website doesn’t refer to “iPad” by name, but WePad handed journalists apples at its launch event and the subtext is clear: “Some people seem to think life is all about the I, and the Me, Me, Me … When you’re locked in, you get the internet their way. It’s the opposite of free. Being told what you can see, what you can buy, and all the things you can not do – somehow, that just seems so 1984.”
Though more fully featured, WePad, too, is being pitched as a media consumption device. Neofonie is delivering its existing WeMagazine digital newspaper and magazine platform on to the tablet. The pitch: “Personally, we have a thing for news. We love them, we find them exciting …The WePad allows you to finally read your favorite newspaper and magazine as it appears in print – but also enjoy all the excitement and interactivity of the online world … Sort of like the daily paper used to land on your doorstep every morning. Except now you’re always up-to-date, every second of every day.”
Domestic magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr is on board as intending to distribute its titles to the device, and Europe’s biggest newspaper publisher Axel Springer is also talking with the WePad team.
Built by an unnamed Asian manufacturer, the specs are enough to get a geek’s heart racing. Thing is, WePad does not yet exist…
Although CEO Helmut Hoffer von Ankershoffen convened a press conference to show off the device yesterday, it was running not the genuine WePad OS but only a Windows 7 installation running a prerecorded video of the interface, TechCrunch reports.
Von Ankershoffen is now planning a July soft launch and to start selling from August – by which time iPad will be in European markets – so there’s still plenty of time for things to go wrong. He claims 20,000 pre-registered orders already. Price €449 for 16Gb with WiFi or €569 for 32Gb with additional 3G and GPS.
“Not thousands, not tens of thousands but many more will be sold before the end of the year,” he said (via AP). The company says it will give a demo unit to “a well-known tech journalist” for testing on April 26. But, so far, you’d have to say the odds of WePad joining even HP’s chasing pack are slim…