Alibaba Enters the AI Terminal Market, QwenBook Debuts Its First Product: An Office Tablet

Beating AI News and LatePost report that Alibaba Cloud’s无影 team is developing QwenBook, a native agent-focused computer for office use, designed in a form factor similar to a tablet paired with a keyboard. The product’s definition and hardware are developed in-house by the team, leveraging无影’s existing systems and end-cloud capabilities, and currently integrates Qwen3.8-Max and Qwen3.8-Flash models. IT Home also witnessed a live demo of the device at today’s Yunqi Conference. Simply put, Alibaba aims to embed Qwen directly into the system, enabling agents to access context such as files and meeting notes, then call tools to complete tasks—rather than functioning solely as a chat app. QwenBook already includes built-in applications like audio transcription, Wiki, smart folders, email, MyNote (knowledge base), and MyZone (memory management), and is collaborating with Kingsoft to integrate WPS. This approach differs from that of Doubao Phone, which primarily operates existing apps on the device via screen reading and simulated clicks; QwenBook, by contrast, starts with office applications it controls natively. Doubao has already faced limitations with third-party apps along this path. The newly launched nubia NaviX Ultra still cannot automatically execute tasks within apps including WeChat, Taobao, Meituan, and Xiaohongshu. QwenBook remains an early trial project. LatePost notes the team has around 150 members, launched the project around April this year, and the full product is expected to launch by the end of 2024 or early 2025. Alibaba’s current strategy is to first build an office environment where agents can actually perform tasks, before gradually integrating third-party software.