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When Apple Inc.’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad hits shelves, the prudent may be to decide to wait. A Cambridge startup is working on two alternative products set to debut this year at a lower price.
Tap ‘n Tap Inc., a 10-person startup based in the Cambridge Innovation Center, is developing firmware for touch-screen tablets (OS) based on Google Inc.’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android operating system. Version 1.0 will be out in Q2, the company reports. Tap ‘n Tap is working with two Asian original-equipment hardware manufacturers (OEMs) on products to be released later this year, said founder and CEO Javier Segovia.
“These products can be in the market at $299 this year,” he said. “We enable lower-cost versions of the tablet that are equally compelling.” He declined to name the OEMs or say under which brands their products would appear.
For would-be tablet entrants, Tap ‘n Tap has already put in the design work needed to create a user interface that can compete with Apple, Segovia said. “If they want to ship a product that competes effectively with the Apple iPad, they’re going to look at us very seriously,” he said.
The company is bootstrapped and angel-funded so far, Segovia said but declined to specify how much.
Segovia believes as the tablet market evolves, the devices will be used bimodally — in the home, as well as in a mobile context. “It can be docked on the kitchen wall, or it can be on the bedside table, or in the living room,” he said. “This is the most convenient screen in our lives when we’re home to access our web information.”
Segovia said Tap ‘n Tap is “betting heavily” that consumers will want built-in webcams in their tablet devices — a feature the iPad so far does not have. “One of the killer apps on this device will be having a web chat or video call with family members,” he said.
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