Samsung, Dell, Microsoft, HP Plan Their Apple iPad Competition

by Nicholas Kolakowski

The Samsung Galaxy Tab, one of the first Apple iPad competitors onthe market, features a TFT-LCD 7-inch screen and a Cortex A8 1GHzprocessor, and runs Google Android 2.2. It also makes phone calls.

While the Samsung Galaxy Tab is priced on some European shoppingWebsites at around $1,000, it’s an open question as to its U.S. pricingand carrier subsidies. That price-point may well determine how well itsells here.

For the third quarter of fiscal 2010, Apple reported sales of 3.27million iPads, establishing a sell-through rate of roughly one millionunits per month. If that rate maintains, it could present challenges totablet competitors looking for a beachhead in the marketplace.

With its competitors trumpeting features such as video conferencingfor their own devices, Apple may be moved to install features such asfront- and rear-facing cameras in future versions of the iPad.

Another Android-based tablet competitor, the Dell Streak, featuresa 5-inch screen. It sells for either $299 with a two-year AT&T contractor $549.99 unlocked.

Dell evidently hopes that users will gravitate toward a Streaksmall enough to fit in a (large) pocket and capable of making phonecalls.

RIM is reportedly working on a tablet that runs its new BlackBerry6 operating system.

HP also is preparing consumer tablets that leverage the company’srecently acquired Palm webOS. That user interface will likely resemblethe one currently used for smartphones such as the Palm Pre (seen here).

Microsoft has made very public its intentions to port Windows 7onto tablets. Seen here during Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s January CESkeynote: tablets from Pegatron, Archos and Hewlett-Packard supposedlydue in 2010.

HP will still produce an enterprise-centric Windows 7 tablet,according to reports, but has offered no firm release date. Microsoft issupposedly exploring the possibilities of Windows 7 on a number ofdifferent tablet form-factors.