Tesco is poised to take a step ahead of rivals in the digital battleground with the launch of a new £119 tablet computer called Hudl.
The grocery giant wants to use the device to help alter customer perceptions and transform itself into the go-to point of contact for digital products and services.
The 7 inch tablet, due to launch a week today online and in larger stores, will compete with better known iPad, Samsung and Kindle devices while also aiming to hook customers to its own brand products and services.
Although it controls half the grocery delivery market, its online non-food business has floundered in relative terms and until the past two years it was falling behind in other aspects of the digital market. But it has also invested heavily since then to provide other online services.
The device will be available to Clubcard users for half price through an enhanced points scheme offer and is specifically aimed at providing entertainment and online shopping. A launch button takes customers to its digital services, including online shopping and banking, Blinkbox films and TV streaming and Clubcard TV.
Tesco, which last year issued its first profit warning since most people can remember - at least 20 years - says the device will make tablet technology more affordable to the three-quarters of British households that do not own a tablet. It has been tested on as many as 100 customers in its beta stage.
Amazon's 7 inch Kindle Fire retails at £99 but has less memory and a slower processor. The Hudl, built by Taiwanese manufacturer Wistron, has 16GB of memory, dual band WiFi and uses Google's Android system. Apple's Ipad mini costs at least £269.
Tesco chief information officer Mike McNamara said the tablet's specifications 'beat similarly priced products on the market hands down'.
Ofcom says a quarter of UK households owned a tablet computer as of March this year when ownership doubled compared to the previous year.
However, Tesco is likely to face problems in the technological race against hardware specialists such as Apple and the likes of Amazon which has shown it is willing to dig deep to develop new products and services and put rivals in the shade.
Tesco will be hoping it can continue to produce a cheap alternative that will appeal to financially hard-pressed families that are willing to dispense with cutting edge functionality for access to the technology.
Holders of a Clubcard will be able to double the value of the loyalty reward vouchers which means they could purchase the device for £60, Tesco says.
Whether they oblige the supermarket giant by following though and purchasing its goods and services in return remains to be seen.
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