Intel eyes educational tablet PC market

Chipmaker Intel Korea will collaborate with Korean tablet PC maker Mpgio and educational software developer ST&Company to tap into the tablet PC market for education in South Korea, Intel Korea said Monday.

Intel Korea expressed confidence in increasing its presence in the educational tablet PC market in the domestic market.

“Despite the low penetration rate of tablet PCs with 7-inch or larger displays due to phablets in Korea, Intel saw demand for educational tablet PCs continually increase,” said Kwon Myung-sook, president of Intel Korea, at a press meeting with its partners in Seoul. She took the helm last month. 

“Intel will make efforts to lead the tablet PC market and cater to consumers’ needs by integrating hardware, software, and services,” the president said.

The collaboration to develop a slate PC and educational content is the first of its kind for Intel, which has invested more than $1 billion in developing educational services and platforms worldwide for the past 10 years, according to the company.

The new tablet PC ― the ST Pad ― is slated for release in June and will be equipped with an 8-inch in-plane switching display panel and Intel’s Atom quad-core processor designed for tablets. Educational applications developed by ST&Company will be preinstalled on the product. Around 300,000 ST Pad’s will be shipped by 2016.

The three firms involved in the collaboration said they would continue to work together to bring tablet PC and educational content to the global market.

Samsung Electronics and Microsoft have been striving to lead the global tablet PC market for education.

Around 500,000 educational tablet PCs are expected to be sold this year in Korea, and sales are forecast to double in 2016.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)