Germany’s heavily publicized answer to the Apple iPad changed its name Friday to the WeTab, with weeks to go before the touchscreen tablet computer goes on the market.
The device had originally been dubbed the WePad, a play of words on Apple’s model name involving the English pronouns I and we.
Neofonie said the distribution company would be renamed WePad as well with immediate effect “to more clearly distinguish the product on the international market for tablet computers.” It did not say who prompted the change.
The Germany-based parent company has said that it will sell the Asian-manufactured device for 449 to 569 euros ($610 to $770) starting this summer.
The WePad can be used to read digital newspapers, magazines and books, as well as to watch films in color. Unlike the iPad, it will play Adobe Flash videos.
Hopes in technology-loving Germany that a local company could mount a challenge to US computer giant Apple were dampened in April, when journalists showed up for the public launch of the device in Berlin and found no WePads there.
The company explained that the prototype had been held up by a customs examination, prompting bloggers to speculate it was fiction.
A hand-picked group of journalists were allowed to test a WePad a week later. Some said it worked, but lacked the verve of an iPad.
Critics say Apple’s iPad is nothing more than a phone with a big screen, but fans say its intuitive and foolproof operation justified the sale of 1 million within days after its US launch.
Some media outlets hope tablet computers will provide a cheap new way to distribute magazines and newspapers.
Apple has come under fire from some media providers in Germany because it bans soft pornography from its iPhone and iPad.