Here's a solid market comparison.
Competition is good. But with the iPad being so solid out of the gate and Apple's marketing machine firing on all cylinders, even if you equal Apple on the specs and features front, if you can't beat it on price--by a significant margin--you're in trouble. Tie goes to the incumbent here. And the winner right now is Apple.
Alas, the tablet space isn't the PC space, where Windows still holds a dominant position and PC makers can undercut Apple with lower-priced machines. As it stands, Apple's the dominant player in the nascent tablet space, and it's been able to strike market-leader deals on parts, which has made it very difficult for others to compete.
Nor is this the smartphone space, where carrier choice remains a big factor and more-affordable Android models with impressive features and designs have become very capable alternatives to the iPhone. Also, the BlackBerry remains strong, and there's more differentiation in the smartphone arena, especially when you consider how many people prefer physical keyboards instead of the virtual-only option found on the iPhone.
A tablet, however, is basically a tablet. Maybe there's some potential for a laptop/slate hybrid, but the reality is that the tablet is what it is: a slab with a touch screen, the thinner and lighter the better.
In fact, at this moment in time, the tablet market appears to have more in common with the MP3 player market. You remember that story? The iPod came along and quickly took a big chunk of the market. Sony was too worried about DRM issues to counter with anything. And others, like Creative Labs, offered compelling alternatives, but Creative couldn't outprice or out-market Apple. Microsoft gave it shot with the Zune, and even though the Zune HD was a really nice product, it wasn't better than the iPod Touch--and it wasn't any more affordable.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7...#ixzz1GbatUMnZ