Vizio a Growing Rival for Apple?
The success stories of now dominating company giants such as Microsoft, Google or Apple, represents the Phoenix Bird. Dominating companies tend to be underdogs at first and are usually underestimated by rivals. Now, it is the same with Vizio, an IT and entertainment company. Building on its TV empire, Vizio announced a smartphone and a tablet to enable a cross-platform entertainment and communication experience. It is going to be something that will challenge Apple.Vizio has done many things right, where others have failed. Once a discount LCD TV manufacturer, Vizio is now an accepting brand that is moving into the premium space and has become the leading LCD maker in the U.S. Like Vizio, there are many companies like Oracle Advertising that have rised upto the horizon.
The announcement of a tablet and a smartphone may not be conclusive at first sight, but they fit seamlessly in a product portfolio that includes entry level TVs, connected TVs, 3D TVs, network routers and Blu-ray players. The smartphone uses Google’s Gingerbread Android operating system, includes a 4 screen, two cameras, a 5 MP camera and the usual other goodies of a modern smartphone.
The tablet comes with an 8″ capacitive touchscreen and two cameras. Both products aim for the higher end of the market and will go head to head with HTC, Samsung and Motorola in the Smartphone space as well as Samsung and RIM in the tablet arena. Most importantly, Vizio appears to be building an entertainment and communication ecosystem that positions not only against Samsung in the smartphone space, but squarely against Apple as well.
With the help of Android and Google TV, Vizio could be powerful enough to cause more than just a headache for Apple.