ViewSonic president Jeff Volpe set the record straight today be confirming the Walnut, Calif.-based vendor will alter its tablet go-to-market strategy.
Volpe said: “ViewSonic developed some of the world’s first “slate PCs” nearly a decade ago. Today, the tablet form factor remains an important part of our connected vision and strategy for the future, building upon our 25 years of display expertise and innovation. With that said, ViewSonic has made the strategic decision to focus our future tablet initiatives in emerging markets and niche verticals, where we can best leverage our core competencies to fulfill technology needs in regions and markets presently underserved by the widely saturated supply of mainstream consumer tablets. As such, we will continue to explore business-to-business opportunities in which we can leverage our technology leadership and longstanding partnerships to provide vertical market customers with valuable solutions not found in the existing mass market tablets targeted to consumers. As with all our products, ViewSonic is committed to delivering our customers with superior service. This commitment is unwavering as it relates to our current tablet customers as well.”
Michael Holstein, the VP of business development at ViewSonic, said that the company will evaluate the opportunities in Canada when any future tablet products are announced.
As for the emerging markets ViewSonic is interested in, they are: select nations in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia Pacific.
Holstein added that education, finance, healthcare, and SMB have traditionally been the primary vertical markets for ViewSonic and the ViewPad tablet.
The ViewPad 7 debuted at the Computex computer show in Taiwan back in mid-2011.
In an extensive interview with CDNlast June Volpe said that the company was preparing a Windows 8 ViewPad for the market. “Windows 8 its going to provide more benefits; if it meets the promise that we see. Our (ViewPad) 10pi can accept Windows 8, so users can upgrade and work on Windows 8 tablet devices, and take the touch element of Windows 7 if desired. The Android version is also there, while we wait for the new OS,” Volpe said.
Volpe outlined the company’s overall strategy (including the ViewPad tablet) as a way to help channel partners with more SKUs to sell. The strategy at its core is to enhance the computing experience visually, Volpe said while moving into digital signage, projectors, tablets and the cloud. “They all have to engage with a display and that is part of our core competency.”
