Samsung's Galaxy Pad tablet is the current subject of media scrutiny, but IT analyst reports suggest Apple's iPad will remain the tablet to beat for some time.
While Apple may be enjoying brisk sales of its touch screen iPad
tablet, with more than 3 million of the devices sold since the launch
earlier this year, Samsung is gearing up to debut a rival of its own,
in a form factor that sits neatly between the iPad and Apple's popular
iPhone smartphone. Images and information leaked onto the Web and
released via Samsung's
corporate Web site,
details about the device have begun to emerge, including Google's
Android operating system and features including 3G and WiFi, a 16:10
screen ratio, a SDHC memory expandability, and a DMB tuner for TV
viewing and something the iPad lacks-a front-facing camera for video
calling.
The latest Internet rumor suggests the tablet will be available to CDMA
carriers and will debut sometime in early September, though Samsung has
yet to officially confirm a specific date. Adding to the Tab rumors is
a report from technology blog OLED-Display.net, which claims to have
found listings for official
Samsung Tab accessories, including a leather bag, charging station, keyboard, USB cable adapter and earphones.
Apple's iPad, in comparison, is 0.5 inches thin and weighs 1.5 pounds,
sports a 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen multi-touch
display and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life. The iPad starts at
$499; Samsung has not yet released a price for the Galaxy Tab, but is
expected to do so at a press conference on Sept. 2 at the IFA Expo in
Berlin. True to form, Apple has scheduled a press conference the day
before, where the company is expected to unveil versions of its
revamped iPod Nano digital music player.
While the current hype is focused on Samsung, some reports suggest the
iPad will still dominate the tablet market into 2012. An August
report
from IT research firm iSuppli predicted that while the iPad would face
competition from HP, Lenovo, RIM, Google and others, the tablet won't
face a "viable competitor" until 2011. The firm said Apple's complete
integration of hardware, software, operating system and applications is
a major piece of what makes the device a standout.
"Companies are quickly developing products that match or exceed some of
the surface hardware specifications of the Apple iPad. But it's still
unlikely that any of the competitors will be able to equal the overall
performance experience of the iPad," said iSuppli director of monitor
research Rhoda Alexander. "If recent history is any lesson, it will
take some time for these companies to get their products to market,
longer for them to offer necessary software support and infrastructure,
and an even lengthier period to begin to rival the overall user
experience Apple is able to deliver."
A July
report
from a Barclays Capital analyst said Apple would sell about 20 million
iPads in 2011, negatively affecting lower-cost notebooks as well as the
netbook market. Other analysts have also suggested growth for the
tablet PC market, with research firm IDC estimating that worldwide
media tablet shipments would total 46 million units in 2014. "IDC
expects consumer demand for media tablets to be strongly driven by the
number and variety of compatible third-party apps for content and
devices," analyst Susan Kevorkian wrote in a May statement.
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