Panasonic said Wednesday it will make its own tablet which will specifically work with its line of Viera TV sets, although no definite release date or cost is set yet.
The company unveiled the tablet at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and said it represents the company's "first step toward cloud-based services including video streaming and e-books."
The tablet — with a small, touchscreen LCD display, and definitely not meant to be an iPad knockoff — will "create a whole new viewing style. Its intuitive navigation interface makes it easy for the user to use cloud services. The tablet can also work as a sub-screen for displaying images and information related to the images shown on the connected television."
There will be different screen sizes for the "Viera Tablet," as it's being called, ranging from 4 to 10 inches.
Meanwhile, despite consumer indifference to 3-D TVs, Panasonic, like most large manufacturers, is offering new sets in the coming year. The company said it will bring out its first 3-D-capable LCD TVs, in 32- and 37-inch screen sizes, and will be doing other updates to its plasma 3-D sets. Full details are available here.
Panasonic's VT30 models, like all of its new 3-D sets, will include expanded Internet connectivity and services offered through Panasonic's own batch of programs for viewers that it has named the Viera Connect system.
