On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

New York's CE Week Line Show hosts Intel's take on the tablet market, with 10 different Atom-based devices-- a lineup lacking in any major manufacturers, resorting a rather oddball selection of devices instead.

The tablets come from a variety of manufacturers and range from 7" models to 11.6" giants, and carry either Android, Windows 7 or MeeGo as an OS.

Viewsonic's has the Viewpad 10 Pro on show, able to run a virtual version of Android on top of 7 and Android, while WeTab has a MeeGo-based offering designed for use with 2 hands.

Other devices include the Maestro, a tablet able to multi-boot between Android, Windows and MeeGo and Razer's Switchblade gaming notebook. Fujitsu and Motion devices also make an appearance.

Now one only has to wonder whether "Intel Inside" will manage to lead these devices on the road to success...

Go Intel

Kesa issues its earnings statement for the year ending 30 April 2011, revealing how while the group's revenues increase by 2.2% Y-o-Y, retail profits are down by -2.7% Y-o-Y, reaching totals of €107M.

The results also show how Kesa's Comet business is doing worse than its French Darty business. Comet's profits for the year reach  €10.3M-- down from the previous year's  €12.4M.

Comet will go through "strong turnaround plans" (as in restructuring), as the store chain struggles in an admittedly challing UK market.

Meanwhile Darty shows growth in profits, with 11.9% Y-o-Y growth and totals reaching  €149.2M.

Thus, Kesa will continue building on the Darty concept, and will launch it at BCC in the Netherlands. Darty's processes will also find a new home in the UK, as they will "play a key part" in Kesa's Comet restructuring plans.

Italy and Turkey will also see growth in their Kesa-owned store networks, as the company seeks to increase its market share in both countries-- a market share it currently has less than 1% of.

Go Kesa Results Statement

In-Stat says tablets are "the stronger and more sustainable opportunity" in comparison to e-readers, with the analyst saying tablet shipments are set to outpace e-readers by this year's end.

E-readers will still remain appealing to customers-- at least for now. Thanks to low prices and growing e-book content, global e-reader shipments should reach 40m by 2015's end (a number that tablets will surpass within the same time period).

However even e-reader manufacturers appear to be giving up on the device category-- Barnes & Nobles' Nook Colour is comparable to a tablet device, while analysts believe Amazon will launch its own tablet device later this year.

In-Stat's survey of US-based customers shows 38% of respondents owning a tablet (as opposed the 26% who own an e-reader).

The analyst also says over 60% of future tablet purchasers are planning to buy a tablet carrying both wifi and 3G connectivity, while by 2015 15% of all tablet shipments should go into business markets.

Go Tablet Shipments Set to Outpace E-Reader Shipments by 2012

Hitachi's G-Technology announces the G-Connect-- a portable HDD providing both wireless storage and wifi internet access for smartphone and tablet users.

It carries 500GB of storage, with support for up to x5 simultaneous devices. G-Technology says the drive can handle up to either x5 SD or x3 HD simultaneous media streams.

Protection comes through password options, which include private folders.

If one connects it to an ethernet connection it also acts as a wifi hotspot.

Users access drive contents via web browsers, while iDevice users get a companion app (Android users will also get their own version of the app later this year).

Go G-Connect