An ARM executive in Asia has been reported as predicting that as many as 50 tablet PCs could be launched this year.
Given ARM’s success in the Apple iPad this could be the Cambridge-based chip developer’s best opportunity to break into the PC market is a serious way?
ARM CEO Warren East is on record predicting that ARM processor cores could be in as many as six million computers this year.
A year ago that looked like a very ambitious target, but may be less so today.
East told EW about a year ago that he has a target of getting into one in five netbooks sold next year and that he believes the netbook market, in unit terms, will amount to 30 million devices in 2010.
Asked by Electronics Weekly last April if he was expecting about ten netbook designs to be built using ARM cores this year, East replied: "Something of that order."
Early last year, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs predicted the netbook market could be a "substantially" bigger market than the notebook PC market.
The tablet may have made that prediction a bit more complicated in 2010.