Electronic devices designed exclusively to consume, rather than both consume and create, began with Apple's iPod music player, which only Microsoft's Zune has effectively challenged. Following the debut of Apple iPad, however, every major electronics producer is taking on Apple. Makers of laptops, netbooks, smartphones and, yes, even music players will all be marketing competing touchscreen tablets in 2011. Almost all will try to emulate the trend-setting iPad while adding some differentiator; Dell's Streak, for example, also lets you make phone calls.
Only a few vendors will try to build an ecosystem that goes head-to-head with Apple's. One is Samsung, whose Galaxy Tab matches the iPad's features, right down to a companion phone with a similar name (as the iPhone is to the iPad, the Galaxy S is to the Galaxy Tab).
Others will aim for underserved markets. Hewlett-Packard's business-oriented Slate, for example, features a stylus input, suiting it for corporate clientele, such as the insurance companies that have put Slates in the hands of their adjusters in the field. Research in Motion's PlayBook, meanwhile, banks on the BlackBerry phone's reputation for superior security compared with the iPhone. Tethering the iPad-like PlayBook to a BlackBerry phone lets RIM users keep pace with iPad owners without sacrificing
security.
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