1Malaysia Pad joins country’s lucrative tablet market

PUTRAJAYA: A new player has come into the country’s lucrative tablet market — the 1Malaysia Pad.

The 7-inch pad, using the Android Gingerbread operating system, was developed by MalTechPro Sdn Bhd.

It was officially unveiled at a soft launch yesterday, promising affordable mobile connectivity on a device which the developers claim was on par with those currently available in the market.

Being a new kid on the block, MalTechPro executive chairman Datuk Sohaimi Shahadan did not rule out the difficulty in breaking through the highly-competitive tablet market, but he is optimistic their business model would give them an edge over the rest.

It was reported earlier this month that Malaysia is the largest tablet market in South-East Asia, racking up sales worth US$374mil (RM1.18bil) last year.

Sohaimi said that unlike other tablet makers which only sell hardware, MalTechPro has the advantage of an in-house team that could tailor the tablet to match the business and communication needs of companies and corporations.

“We are an apps (applications) developer, and the 1Malaysia Pad can be customised according to the needs of the client.

“Let’s say a company wants 500 units. We can customise the apps to do whatever they need, and these apps will be exclusive to that particular company,” Sohaimi said after the soft launch by Domestic Trade, Consumer Affairs and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob here.

The tablet also comes with a clutch of built-in applications, the most notable being the 1Malaysia Messenger or 1MM app, which offers free messaging between users akin to popular applications such as WhatsApp and Blackberry Messenger.

Sohaimi said the 1Malaysia Pad will be in the market next month after its official launch by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, at an introductory price of RM999 for the first 5,000 units.

The tablet comes with two cameras – 3.0 megapixel device at the back and a 0.3 megapixel in the front – WiFi and 3G data capabilities, a Li-Polymer 4000mAH battery and a 32GB micro SD memory card.