Apple Will Have To Respond To Acer’s Android, Windows 7 Tablets

More tablets, more competitions

Right now, of course, price competition isn’t exactly an issue. The Samsung Galaxy Tab sells for about the same price as an equivalent iPad. While the screen is smaller, you get access to a wider choice of data networks, and there are differences in the feature set.

Clearly this has been enough so far to spur very good sales. But with more competition entering the market, Samsung will have to do more also.

Acer, Samsung and Apple are only three of the many possible vendors. There are a number of indications that Hewlett-Packard will start selling a webOS tablet soon. The difference between webOS and the other tablet operating systems to date is that it was designed by Palm, which has vastly more experience in creating multi-tasking, touch-based user interfaces than anyone else.

If HP plays its cards right, it could end up with an interface that easily rival’s Apple’s iOS4, and also does real multi-tasking. It’s worth noting that HP will also have to do something about the scant offerings in the webOS app store.

And there’s the Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook. It’s less clear what the role of this tablet will be. It’s possible that this will be a BlackBerry accessory and nothing else.

It’s also possible that RIM will give it the ability to exist independently of its smartphones, giving the PlayBook a chance to help fill in the business side of the tablet market.

It’s a battle between Apple, Acer and Samsung

The way things are shaking out now, however, the real battle for the hearts and minds of the buying public will be between Apple, Acer and Samsung.

By the time April arrives, Samsung will have cleaned up some of the smartphone artifacts in the tablet version of Android, Acer will have a shiny new line of tablets. And what will Apple have?

With Apple, it’s always sort of a mystery. I think it’s a safe bet that you’ll see some sort of camera in the iPad, probably on the front for video conference use. I don’t think you’ll see the Retina display that’s on the iPhone and the new iPod, if only because a display large enough to fit the iPad would be expensive enough to make the device non-competitive.

You might see 3G service from some carrier in addition to AT&T, perhaps Verizon Wireless. But the most important thing you’ll see is competition, and no matter which vendor you’re thinking of, competition always helps strengthen the product line.