They have also confirmed that they will be a player in the tablet PC market, with a sleek new iPad-style tablet that will be available with either an Android or Windows operating system. The device is expected by October.

Australian MD Mark Whittard brandished a prototype of the tablet – though it wasn't running – during his presentation on the StarShip luxury cruise boat moored at Sydney's King St Wharf.

Whittard, who was promoted last year to run Toshiba's overall operations in Australia, believes that the secret to Toshiba's success in the "brutally" competitive notebook range is being able to deliver a range of notebooks spanning the top end 3D gaming and multimedia market to a discount range at the bottom end.

"Margin and profitability is an issue and to be competitive a brand has to play at both the top end where the margin is and at the volume price point end of the market," said Whittard.

He admitted that brands like Acer and Asus were struggling to get traction up against brands like Toshiba, HP and Lenovo.

"Balance is important to your overall success, we have 70 per cent business to consumer and 30 per cent business to business, if you get swings in this mix it can affect your profitability," said Whittard.

Whittard said that Toshiba had been a leader in the notebook market after the company forged a relationship with American Alan Kay 25 years ago to launch the world's first portable PC. 

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