Acer unveils world's first MeeGo tablet

Taiwan’s Acer Inc. unveiled Wednesday the world’s first tablet computer running the MeeGo operating system, powered by Intel Corp.'s Atom-based mobile processor featuring a 10.1-inch touchscreen. Acer’s Iconia Tab M500 will go on sale worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2011, Taiwan’s Central News Agency quoted David Lee, Acer assistant vice president of mobile computing business unit at PC global operations, as saying. “The tablet is a combination of the MeeGo platform and Intel’s Moorestown low-power processor, and we’re still tuning its touch interface to achieve better user experience," Lee said at Intel’s netbook and tablet keynote at Computex Taipei. However, he refused to disclose the starting price of the new gadget. MeeGo is an open-source software platform seen as a key weapon in mobile phone maker Nokia’s battle against Apple and Google in the high-end smartphone market. It was created early last year from the merger of Nokia and Intel’s Linux-based platforms Maemo and Moblin. But the CNA quoted media reports saying Nokia ended development of its first smartphone using its new MeeGo operating system in February this year before it was ever launched. — TJD, GMA News