Archos Design has announced the launch of their first product. The product is a keyboard for tablets and given the company also makes quite a few Android tablets — one may have assumed this keyboard would have been for one of their own products. Or at the very least, for Android in general. But no, Archos Design launched a keyboard for the iPad.
The product is the Ultra-think Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad. For those who happen to be curious, the keyboard will be selling for $79 and is expected to be available in March. That bit aside, and to be fair to Archos, we should make the distinction that this is the first product from Archos Design.
For those unfamiliar with the split between the two, Archos Design is described as being “a new division of ARCHOS dedicated to sharing ARCHOS designs and innovations across a number of different platforms.” Basically, it seems Archos felt the need to have another division solely for products that are not Android related. Given that description it does make sense that the keyboard would launch for the iPad.
On some this could make Android users feel better as iPad users are getting a keyboard that was based off of a design of an Android tablet accessory. Those who are looking at the keyboard and thinking it looks familiar — you are most likely thinking of the Archos 101XS tablet which shipped with a keyboard.
With the tiniest modification (ie. wider groove), this could be universal. Hopefully this is only branded as being for the iPad.
Archos also forgets its customers, early buyers of their tablets are being completely ignored with relevant updates.