PSN ID
by The market for tablet PCs has shaken out into two unmistakable tiers: Apple and everyone else.
But is that such a bad thing? If nothing else, the iPad’s success has established that a) a market exists for a cumbersome, expensive gizmo that won’t fit in your pocket, and b) people are hungry for more options. Sales of tablets should reach close to 20 million in 2010, and analysts are optimistic that between 50 and 55 million will find their way into consumers’ hands in 2011.
Even if, say, 80 percent of those go toward filling Apple’s already deep coffers, thanks to the still-popular first-gen line and an expected mid-year upgrade, that still leaves millions of potential tablets that can give other companies can gain a foothold.
And while tech giants like Microsoft, Samsung and Motorola may unveil their vision of an “iPad killer,” they’d be better served by trying to get a leg up on their fellow second-tier competitors.
IDC analyst David Daoud expects around 20 different flavors of tablets to premiere over the coming year, and such over-saturation will inevitably lead to attrition. “There’s going to be a lot of very disappointed companies, because the market will only bear so much,” he says.
That’s what makes CES so critical this go-around. Motorola seems poised to make the biggest splash, with its “Olympus” tablet running Honeycomb, the optimized Android OS for tablets.
Samsung may also be ready to show off an updated spec of its Galaxy Tab, which hit the 1 million-sold mark less than two months after its mid-October release.
RIM’s PlayBook, scheduled to hit the streets in March, will probably also be on hand.
However, Hewlett-Packard is the wild card in all of this. After its late-April acquisition of Palm — and the mobile WebOS platform that comes with it — HP has apparently made engineering progress in porting the OS to a tablet-like device called the PalmPad. It’s likely to come out in 2011. But will we see it at CES? Hard to say.
Also watch for the first dual-screen Android tablet (from NEC), as well as the education-focused Kno, which boasts 14.1-inch screens in single and dual versions and began shipping — sort of — late last month.
It’ll be a lot to absorb, for sure, but the tablet industry is ready for a full-fledged coming-out party. A lot of invitations have gone out, but it remains to be seen who the real party animals will be. –Erik Malinowski
But is that such a bad thing? If nothing else, the iPad’s success has established that a) a market exists for a cumbersome, expensive gizmo that won’t fit in your pocket, and b) people are hungry for more options. Sales of tablets should reach close to 20 million in 2010, and analysts are optimistic that between 50 and 55 million will find their way into consumers’ hands in 2011.
Even if, say, 80 percent of those go toward filling Apple’s already deep coffers, thanks to the still-popular first-gen line and an expected mid-year upgrade, that still leaves millions of potential tablets that can give other companies can gain a foothold.
And while tech giants like Microsoft, Samsung and Motorola may unveil their vision of an “iPad killer,” they’d be better served by trying to get a leg up on their fellow second-tier competitors.
IDC analyst David Daoud expects around 20 different flavors of tablets to premiere over the coming year, and such over-saturation will inevitably lead to attrition. “There’s going to be a lot of very disappointed companies, because the market will only bear so much,” he says.
That’s what makes CES so critical this go-around. Motorola seems poised to make the biggest splash, with its “Olympus” tablet running Honeycomb, the optimized Android OS for tablets.
Samsung may also be ready to show off an updated spec of its Galaxy Tab, which hit the 1 million-sold mark less than two months after its mid-October release.
RIM’s PlayBook, scheduled to hit the streets in March, will probably also be on hand.
However, Hewlett-Packard is the wild card in all of this. After its late-April acquisition of Palm — and the mobile WebOS platform that comes with it — HP has apparently made engineering progress in porting the OS to a tablet-like device called the PalmPad. It’s likely to come out in 2011. But will we see it at CES? Hard to say.
Also watch for the first dual-screen Android tablet (from NEC), as well as the education-focused Kno, which boasts 14.1-inch screens in single and dual versions and began shipping — sort of — late last month.
It’ll be a lot to absorb, for sure, but the tablet industry is ready for a full-fledged coming-out party. A lot of invitations have gone out, but it remains to be seen who the real party animals will be. –Erik Malinowski
