New Tablets for 2011

The surge in new tablets- primarily due to the incredible success of Apple’s iPad- is almost breathtaking. At the new Consumer Electronics Show (CES) starting this week, it is expected that no less than 40- 80 tablets will be unveiled (this number is more a reflection of what is a tablet vs. a smartphone). The market is craving the ability to use applications in a forms factor that is smaller than a laptop but larger than a smartphone. It’s all about mobility and doing business better. For 2011, there are 4 new tablets to watch for-

HP’s PalmPad- ever since HP took over Palm last year, they stayed pretty quiet as to what they would do with the Palm technology and intellectual property. That’s about to change, possibly at the CES. HP is rumored to be revealing its competitive tablet to Apple’s iPad, the PalmPad. Rumors of the PalmPad come from Fox News’ Clayton Morris, who claims to have obtained the spec sheets for an HP tablet device running webOS. The device will reportedly run webOS 2.5.1, contain a mini-HDMI port and a USB 3.0 port, and features front and rear-facing cameras identical to the Slate and will come in 4 versions.

RIM’s PlayBook- announced last year, businesses are keen about getting their hands on this new tablet, scheduled for market introduction in February. The tablet will run QNX, an operating system from a company that RIM bought in 2009. It will include an HDMI video output and a USB port. At about half the size and much lighter than the iPad, PlayBook is poised to attack the iPad on the basis of specs, such a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, micro-HDMI output and both rear-facing and front-facing cameras.

Samsung Galaxy Tab- a 7-inch Android tablet, Samsung has already sold over 1 million since its’ debut last October. Samsung is expected to reveal the newer version of the Tab at CES. It’s not clear if the new Galaxy Tab would have a larger display, faster processor, or other features to differentiate it from the 7 inch model currently available. With the million Tabs already in the market, it’s likely that Samsung and its partners will be able to offer software updates that will let you upgrade the operating system from Android 2.2 to Android 2.3.

The iPad 2- Apple has sold over 10 million iPads since its’ debut last year and it’s expected their new iPad 2 will launch in February or April. It is estimated that over 50% of the Corporate North American business market is evaluating iPads for a variety of business support functions, a key indicator of the need for new mobile tools other than the standard laptop PC or netbook. Rumours are rampant of the new iPad having front and back facing cameras, a USB port and external memory.

Overall, it will be an amazing year for the tablet. Gartner Research predicts tablets will displace around 10 percent of PC units by 2014 (PCs shipments estimated at 400 million in 2011). These are big numbers just for displacing PCs and not taking into account a whole new market opportunity with tablets that are more mobile and packed with business functions not seen before. Indeed, the mobility aspect of the tablet and how suppliers will offer business applications to take advantage of the demand for mobility will be interesting to watch. Stay tuned.