Will grandPad be like Neo in the Matrix Trilogy and be The One? I very much doubt it.

Any fan of the film The Matrix Trilogy will know about Neo being the prophesied to be 'The One' - the one with the power to challenge the all powerful Matrix

For the past 5 years the same question has kept arising with the launch of yet another tablet product built for oldies - will this be The One?

So far they have varying degrees of failure or success with much more loaded towards the failure end of the spectrum.

And so we have an announcement that Acer is partnering with grandPad to add its financial and distribution leverage. So is grandPad going to be The One?

My bet is that it isn't. The product looks a really good and I can see why Acer are interested in a joint venture. But I just don't think there is a long term place in the market for an age-silo tablet product. It has nothing to do with the product itself - there is room for two but not for three.

I expected Apple and Google to get their act together before now and make the interface of their OS easier to use but even with all of the faults I just don't believe there is enough difference to make consumers reject the mainstream brands and go for a hybrid.

We will see. Dick Stroud