Tesco shelves Hudl smart phone plans

A year after the release of its successful Hudl tablet, Tesco's mobile market thrust seems to have hit a bump. The UK retailer has disclosed that the Hudl smart phone would not be released this year.

In a blog post dated 8 September 2014, Robin Terrell - the supermarket chain's multichannel director - said the company had shelved plans to introduce a smart phone this year.

According to Terrel, at the time the project was announced, Tesco felt it could "offer customers something we saw was lacking in the mobile market: an affordable, quality 4G smart phone".

However, he said, the gap had now closed and he took the decision to axe the handset in July.

In its place, Tesco would focus on the Hudl 2 - a tablet that Terrel claimed would "improve on just about every area of its predecessor".

This would include a faster processor and additionally a screen-size increase, which, he said, would make the Hudl 2 a candidate for a household's primary rather than secondary device.

Elaborating on the next generation Hudl tablet, Terrell said the device would be an ''enhanced'' version of the original, with much bigger screen size, greater memory and a broader line-up of apps than the original. The second iteration had the potential to ''take its place as customer's primary tablet,'' he added.

Terrell did not disclose much about the tablet's specifications. However, he said, Hudl 2 was expected to be launched in the coming few weeks.