Android infiltrates Computex via tablets, PCs, set-top boxes

New Windows PCs have always been the main attraction at Computex, the annual trade show in Taipei. But notable on the show floor this year is the growing presence of Google’s Android OS, which is creeping into more and more tablets, televisions, set-top boxes and even PCs.

There’s no big company promoting Android here—Google doesn’t attend, and there are no keynotes or press conferences dedicated to it—so its prevalence can be easily missed. But walking the show floor shows that vendors are increasingly adopting the open-source OS for a wide variety of products, including digital video recorders, media players and USB sticks that turn TVs into connected Android computers.

Michael Kan

The benefits of Android aren’t hard to see: it can be free to use, it’s more open than Windows because it’s open source, and it’s seen by some as the operating system of the moment, according to companies using it at the show. “Everyone is using Android phones and Android pads. This is the mainstream,” said Debbie Lai, a sales manager with Honeywld Technology. Her Taiwan-based company plans to launch Android set-top boxes that will bring the OS to TVs, allowing users to surf the Web and use Android apps on their televisions.

There’s also a small army of Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers that are turning to Android to build tablets, many of them low-cost products that will be sold in emerging markets like China, India and Brazil. One of them is Onyx Technology, which is making tablets that will be sold for about $100. The products are on sale now in the Middle East under the brand name Innovel, said Larry Lee, a sales manager.

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Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2041015/android-infiltrates-computex-via-tablets-pcs-settop-boxes.html#tk.rss_laptopcomputers

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