US telecom maker Motorola Mobility has jumped into the bustling tablet computer market with a touchscreen device powered by "Honeycomb," the latest version of Google's Android software.
Sanjay Jha, the chief executive of Motorola Mobility, also presented three new Android-powered touchscreen smartphones to reporters on the eve of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES).Motorola Mobility's hotly awaited tablet computer, the "Xoom," will be available in the first quarter of the year, Jha said.
With a 10.1-inch (25.6-centimeter) screen, the Xoom is about the same size as Apple's iPad, which hit stores in April and has other leading technology companies around the world scrambling to catch up.
More than 100 firms are expected to unveil tablet computers at CES, which officially opens on Thursday and features more than 2,600 exhibitors of the latest gadgets.
Jha said the Xoom will be the first tablet computer to hit stores featuring Android 3.0, or Honeycomb, an operating system developed with tablets in mind instead of smartphones.
"It's been designed ground up for the tablet, the user interface, the whole interaction," Jha said. "It has multi-tasking capability."
"All of these things, I think, deliver an experience which make Android 3.0 on our tablet probably in my opinion the most competitive product in the marketplace," he said.
Jha pointed out several features on the Xoom that the iPad does not have including front- and rear-facing cameras and the ability to play Adobe Flash video software, which is banned from the Apple device.
