iPad imitators hope to bite into Apple's lead

HONG KONG — When Apple announced the arrival of the iPad, it said it would create and define a brand-new sector in the market for computer devices, somewhere between the smartphone and the notebook laptop.

Two months and over two million iPad sales later a string of Asian manufacturers have shown they agree -- by unveiling their own tablets which they hope will take a bite out of Apple's lead.

Over a dozen new iPad-style gadgets have now entered the fray, and more are sure to follow.

At the Computex computer trade fair in Taipei this week, beautiful models posed with shiny black slabs of clever glass -- most of which looked pretty much the same as Apple's iPad.

First out of the box was the catchily named ASUS Eee Pad 101TC. It's similar in size to the iPad, runs on Windows and will sell for 399 US dollars -- around 100 US dollars less than the US price of a basic iPad.

The MSI WindPad 100, which at 499 US dollars costs the same as the iPad, also runs on Windows and boasts a webcam -- which is conspicuously absent in the first iPad models. LG's new UX10 device also has a webcam.

Many newcomers will also use Adobe's Flash video technology, another perceived flaw in the iPad. Apple refused to allow Flash on its new gadget.

Taiwan-based chipmaker VIA believes the way forward in the tablet market is to go smaller and cheaper.

Its VIA Slate prototype has a seven-inch screen, runs on an old version of Google's Android operating system and will retail for between 100 and 200 US dollars. Several other tablet devices will also run on Android.

Right at the bottom of the market is the iPed -- which seems to be a direct copy of the iPad, even down to the packaging. It is on sale only over the Taiwan Strait in China, selling in a Shenzhen computer mall for 105 dollars.

Nancy Liu of Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute told AFP that companies launching their tablets at Computex wanted to prove "they have the capability to catch the trend set by Apple."

"I don't think the followers are capable of dethroning Apple's leadership at least in the short term," Liu said.

But it's not the gadget, it's what you can do with it that counts. And this is where Apple is also streets ahead of the pack. As Jenny Lai, a Taipei-based technology analyst for brokerage firm CLSA, says: content is king.

"Content remains a critical part of the success story for iPad," she said. "Currently, there are seven major app stores including new entrants Lenovo and Asustek.

"What?s more important for Apple and existing vendors is building up a more user-friendly interface and more choices for online-store users."

Apple has more than 100,000 downloadable applications compared to the 500 it offered for the iPhone when it first opened online less than two years ago. Google has more than 30,000 apps available for Android.

Lenovo's application download store for Lephone and other products has around 250 applications. Asustek say it is cooperating with Intel and Microsoft to launch an app store in 2010 on a Windows platform.

And it's not just computer makers watching each other's reaction to this "new" market -- the struggling old school publishing industries are also looking on in hope.

The tablet computer plus its slightly less glamorous cousin, the e-reader, have been hailed as the saviour of the book and newspaper industries.

Sony, which has an e-reader but does not have a tablet computer on the market -- yet -- predicts big changes for the publishing industry on the back of the launch of all these devices.

Steve Haber, president of Sony?s digital reading business division, believes the printed book will soon be overtaken by its electronic sister, the same pattern seen with music and photography.

"Within five years there will be more digital content sold than physical content," he told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"I have multiple meetings with publishers and tell them paradigm shifts happen. You can say fortunately or unfortunately you haven't had a paradigm shift in, what, hundreds of years.

"We in the consumer electronics area have a paradigm shift every year or two."

EU moves to phase out hazardous materials in electronics

Greenpeace welcomes move but says more work is needed

Some of the chemicals used in electronic products need to be reviewed, members of the European Parliament's Environment Committee have said.

The call comes as committee members claim they are worried about the effects that PVC, BFRs and other substances used in electronics can pose to people's health or the environment - both when they are being made and when they are disposed of.

The committee also called for a further evaluation for a number of substances that are not currently restricted, including halogenated flame retardants. Jill Evans (Greens/EFA, UK), the MEP guiding the legislation through Parliament, said: "I am glad that, despite heavy pressure from the chemical industry, the Environment Committee has today voted for certain problematic substances to be highlighted for further review and a possible ban."

The committee also said that any consideration of substances for possible restriction should be carried out under the responsibility of the European Commission, using the "delegated acts" procedure, but the European Parliament or Member States should also be able to propose substances to be examined. Furthermore, the assessment criteria should include the substance's potential health and environmental impact.
Greenpeace, which has been instrumental in pushing to phase these materials out of the electronics industry for many years, has welcomed the move.

Iza Kruszewska, Toxics Campaigner at the organisation told TechEye: "We welcome this step towards leveling the so called ´legal playing field' as it will ensure that leaders in the electronics sector that have taken voluntary action to remove these toxic chemicals are not left at a competitive disadvantage.

"However it’s time the major companies in the electronics supply chain sit up and pay attention.

“Although over 50 percent of the EU market players in computers and over 80 percent in mobile phones will be out of PVC and BFRs in the next year, this ban could address many more products. This will lead to massive demand for safer alternatives, so suppliers that invest in providing materials and components to this sector now will gain a competitive advantage”.

The committee's recommendations will be put to the vote in the European Parliament in July.

Landfills 'busting at seams' with e-waste

There is a built-in obsolescence to electronic goods, but e-waste contains hazardous materials. (ABC: Karen Barlow)

• VIDEO: Landfills swamped with e-waste (Lateline)
• MAP: Villawood 2163

In Australia, more than 17 million televisions, computers and other electronic products are thrown away every year.

The desire to keep up with the latest technologies means current models are ending up on the scrapheap in ever increasing numbers, and what is going into landfill contains dangerous toxins.

A recycling scheme was proposed a year ago to deal with this potential crisis in what is called e-waste, but it is nowhere near being implemented.

Meanwhile, Jane Castle from the Total Environment Centre says Australian landfills are busting at the seams.

"We are buying more and more every year and we're dumping more and more every year," she said.

"We have over 250 million toxic products either in landfill or on their way there every year, and there are many millions going into landfill every year."

There is a built-in obsolescence to electronic goods; they can quickly break or go out of style.

E-waste contains hazardous materials, such as lead, airborne mercury and plastics with flame retardants. The goods end up in landfill or, more rarely, go to dedicated facilities.

Australia's largest e-waste recycler was opened by Environment Minister Peter Garrett two years ago in the Sydney suburb of Villawood.

It takes 10,000 tons of e-waste a year and has the capacity to double that amount.

But Kumar Radhakrishnan from Sims Recycling Solutions says the facility is significantly under capacity, holding "less than a third" of what it could handle.

And he says some of the goods shredded there work perfectly well, or just needed light repairs.

"Sometimes it might just be a problem with a power supply or a battery and the consumer just wants to upgrade, like the digital televisions for instance now," he said.

He says more than 90 per cent of e-waste still goes to landfill, because the law permits it.

"Landfills can accept all these things," he said. "There is absolutely no law banning this stuff from going into landfill."

It is not in place yet, but last November the Federal Government said it would support a product stewardship scheme.

In exchange for a small increase in the cost of new electronic goods, companies would arrange for recycling at the end of the product's days.

John Lawson from Global Renewables says the cost would range from just a few cents to around $30, depending on the type of object and what it is made from.

"The more valuable materials that go into that object, the more it is likely to cost less to recycle," he said.

The idea of a new producer responsibility has been embraced by most, but not all, companies; it is understood two computer companies are not keen to take part.

Mr Radhakrishnan says this is where the Government needs to step in.

"Eighty per cent of the producers who are willing to pay for the product to be recycled have been requesting the Government to ensure that this is made into a level playing field, and this is why legislation is important," he said.

Depending on the parliamentary process, such a scheme may start next year, but there is no guarantee.

New waves of e-waste are coming in all the time. 3D TVs have arrived and in a month's time the digital TV changeover kicks off in Mildura.

"That means there are 5 million TVs on the chopping block as of the next coming few years," said Ms Castle.

"We have a choice here: do we send them to landfill or do we recycle them? And [Communications Minister] Steven Conroy has a lot to answer for here because he's been badgered by the industry and environment groups for over two years on this issue and nothing has been done."

The Communications Minister has reaffirmed the Government's commitment to a future e-waste recycling scheme.

In a statement, Senator Conroy says TV and computer collection and recycling schemes are expected to be operational from 2011.

But he says it is not necessary for viewers to purchase a new digital TV to access digital signals, and that 68 per cent of Australian households have already converted to digital TV.

Meanwhile, one of the biggest not-for-profit waste recyclers is being dragged financially under by e-waste.

Ms Mantle says it costs Reverse Garbage about $100,000 a year.

"We're on the ground, we're the ones facing it, we're the soldiers," she said.

"What are people going to do if Reverse Garbage says no? We're not only servicing the individual, we're servicing the big end of town, banks ... we're providing free services to schools, to hospitals.

"Once Kevin Rudd initiated the new computer program, we endeavoured to take all the old computers from the state school system. We nearly drowned under the weight of that."

She says Reverse Garbage cannot wait for a national e-waste program. It is poised to stop taking e-waste altogether.

"The reality is for seven years we've been doing this unassisted and something needs to happen now to help not-for-profits," she said.

"It's time that you came and gave us a hand. Because I could sit here and wait for another bill to be passed and I still hear nothing."