It's An iTablet, But It's Not Apple's

As the bad-taste jokes surrounding Apple's iPad slowly fade away and the countdown to the March launch begins, a UK company has announced a competing product with the name many thought Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) would use. X2 Computing, which specializes in handheld devices, especially ruggedized devices, is calling its new computer the iTablet.

The iTablet comes in two forms, with a 10.2-inch or 12.1-inch screen. A multitouch display is said to be "optional." The system has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, an undisclosed amount of memory, a 250GB hard drive, and 3G and GSM wireless chips, along with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Users have a choice of Windows 7, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, or Linux. The iTablet is thicker than the iPad, 35mm (1.38 inches) versus 13.4 mm (0.53 inches), but that's because it has more inside -- including a 1.3 megapixel webcam and USB 2.0 and HDMI ports, none of which are in the iPad.

"iTablet will empower users with unlimited technology and advanced multimedia access across multiple platforms without being restricted to exclusive content providers," said Jonathan Wharrad, R&D director of X2 Computing in a statement. "This new breed of Windows-based computer takes design, functionality, and solution fit to new and higher levels."

X2 manufacturers a variety of tablet computers for the industrial, commercial, military and government sectors. The iTablet is its first real consumer/mass market device. So while the company isn't a fly-by-night organization, neither is it a household name.

The company still has a number of obstacles to overcome.

As the Psystar case demonstrated, no company is too small to escape Apple's notice.

Trap No. 1 is trademarks, said Ben Bajarin, analyst with Creative Strategies. However, Apple does not own the trademark "iTablet." It belongs to a Taiwanese company called Amtek Systems.

But Apple can still come back to haunt X2. "I've known companies who did Web sites like 'My iPhone' and got hit with a cease-and-desist letter because it was terminology being used externally by Apple," Bajarin told InternetNews.com.

Even if X2 can escape Apple's grasp, it just looks lame to steal Apple's naming convention, Bajarin says. "I just don't think that's a good way from a product-naming standpoint [to be] characterized as a me-too or trying to capitalize on someone's mistake of a naming scheme," he said.

Another challenge, for X2 and everyone else, is to not just make this a PC without a keyboard or a laptop without a lid.

"We're going to see a bunch of stuff in this space. The use cases will define what works and for what reasons," Bajarin said. "The tablet market up to now has failed because people have taken a normal PC and made it touch-capable."

"You don't take a PC and modify it, you decide how people will use it and model it accordingly," he added. "To reproduce the desktop or notebook into a tablet experience is what's caused it to fail so far."

Andy Patrizio is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.