Dell planning to release 7-inch Streak tablet

23 Sep 2010

Computer giant Dell is following up on the initial success of its 5-inch tablet computer, the Dell Streak, with a 7-inch version that will hit stores in the coming months.

Dell CEO Michael Dell revealed a larger version of the Streak at the annual Oracle World event where he took to the stage.

The entire tablet computer market is about to go into overdrive. Next week, BlackBerry will unveil its 7-inch Black Pad device, which runs on its QNX operating system.

In the coming weeks, Samsung will unveil its 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab device, which will be sold in Ireland by the four main operators, Vodafone, O2, Meteor and 3.

Samsung Mobile country manager Gary Twohig told Siliconrepublic that early next year Samsung will bring out a 10-inch version of the Galaxy Tab.

There is already evidence that tablet sales are eating into notebook sales in the US. Apple sold 3.3 million copies of the iPad device in the first quarter of this year and is expected to sell 7 million before the end of the year.

According to iSuppli, shipments of touchscreen tablet computers are expected to reach more than 15.4 million this year.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com