ViewSonic offers money-back guarantee on ViewPad 7

In among all the hoopla over the launch of the iPad 2, ViewSonic has decided to put its money where its mouth is and offer a 30-day money back guarantee for buyers of its ViewPad 7 tablet.

Anyone who buys one of the tablets in April has 30 days to try it out and, if they don't like it for any reason, they can simply return it to ViewSonic (with the receipt and packaging) after 20 days and the company will send them their money back, with an extra £10 to cover postage

"It's all about letting people get their hands on one and see for themselves," James Coulson, European marketing manager at ViewSonic, told Frontline.

"Touch wood, we've never had a bad review for the tablet, but we don't have the retail channel of Apple or Samsung. There's loads of people that have been exposed to only Apple or sometimes really low-end systems."

The 7.1in tablet runs Android 2.2 and comes with integrated phone capabilities, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS. While the hardware is not as advanced as the iPad 2 the device is cheaper at £325, and the company is hoping the spread of consumer-friendly application sales from Amazon and others will drive demand.

It's a measure of Apple's hold on the market that a manufacturer would take such a step, but this is a tactic ViewSonic used last year and it seems to have worked. The deal certainly looks good enough to avoid a Hoover fiasco but what it will do in market share remains to be seen.

29 Mar 2011