Story by
Jon Russell
Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on T Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on Twitter, Angel List, LinkedIn.
The UK’s high streets are alive with the sound of own-brand tablets, or at least they will be soon after retailer Argos announced its first Android-powered device, following in the footsteps of retail giant Tesco which introduced the Hudl in September.
The BBC reports that the Argos ‘MyTablet’ is a 7-inch device running Jelly Bean (Android 4.2.2) with a series of apps pre-loaded, including BBC’s iPlayer service and Angry Birds games. Under the hood it includes a 1.6GHz dual-core processor, 1024 x 600 resolution LCD screen, 8GB of internal memory, and Wi-Fi and BlueTooth connectivity.
The tablet will cost £99.99 ($160) and will go on sale from Wednesday.
Argos says it is targeting kids, and in particular those aged between 8-13 years-old (MyTablet will include parental controls), as Simon Barry, Argos’ technology trading manager, told the BBC:
Kids find it hard to share, so we’ve priced our tablet at a level that means everyone in the family can have one.
We know a lot of families are probably feeling worse off [financially] this Christmas than last. We’re confident MyTablet is going to do really well.
Tesco says it sold 35,000 of its £119 Hudl device within ‘a few days’ of its launch. With British shoppers tipped to buy 8 million tablets per year, it will be interesting to see how MyTablet fares.
Related: Hudl: With Tesco’s tablet, you get a lot of bang for your buck
Thumbnail image via Gene Hunt / Flickr – images via Argos