China-based white-box vendors Zenithink's 10-inch tablet PC ePad and Anhub's 7-inch model have ranked among the top 20 selling tablet PCs on Amazon, according to retail channels in Taiwan.

The two tablet PCs have an appearance and functionality very similar to that of iPad but are much less expensive. The 10-inch ePad sells at US$259.99, much lower than US$499 for the most inexpensive iPad.

White-box vendors have extended their development of smartphones and netbooks to tablet PCs in order to launch before many international vendors, the sources indicated.

However, such white-box tablet PCs are not as stable and lack support for application downloads and after-sale maintenance, and therefore may not be competitive once international vendors launch tablet PC, the sources analyzed.