HP TouchPad and Other Tablets vs. the Advantaged iPad

Michael Hickins, WSJ: "Hewlett-Packard announced its entry into the mobile device space today, but is entering a market already crowded with strong contenders. The market, currently dominated by Apple’s iPad (which hogged approximately 87 percent of the worldwide market in 2010, according to research firm IDC), already includes Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, and will count the likes of Motorola Mobility Holdings, Research in Motion and Dell, all of whom intend to ship by the end of this year. But it’s that very timing that gives Apple such a huge advantage, according to Susan Kevorkian, who follows the mobile device market for IDC. ... "

Kobo Announces An Aggressive Partnership Strategy for 2011

Given the situation with their partner Borders, they damned well better have an aggressive partnership strategy for 2011. PW: "Kobo ... plans to vastly expand its footprint in the e-book space. Kobo has made partnerships with companies like Samsung and RIM to place Kobo e-reading software on their respective tablet devices, the Galaxy Tab and the upcoming Blackberry playbook. At CES, which begins today, Kobo is also focusing on OEM partners who will sell devices with Kobo software built in. Freescale, a leading chip maker for e-readers and tablets, has included Kobo software in its new tablet reference design (which OEM partners use to conceive of what devices with Freescale chips might do), the i.MX53 SABRE, which the company is showing off at CES."

Year of the Tablet Takes Another Stab at It

Joshua Brustein, NY Times: " ... [2010] became the Year of the iPad. This year, manufacturers are promising it will be different, saying that after the success of the iPad, they have learned a lot about what consumers want in a tablet. 'We could have done this a year ago and rushed it out, but it wouldn’t have had the right features,' said Phil Osako, director of product marketing at Toshiba, which is introducing a new tablet at this year’s show, which begins Thursday in Las Vegas. ... " Other players: HP, Motorola, RIM. "Perhaps the most important feature is the ability to watch high-quality video, say industry analysts, pointing to market research showing that, above all, consumers want to use tablets for all kinds of media consumption — watching films, looking at and sharing photographs, playing games. 'Apple competitors’ first instinct was to build a cheaper device and put a cheaper processor in it,' said Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with Forrester Research ... 'The problem with that is that it wouldn’t have been as good for the video screens.' ... "

BlackBerry PlayBook vs. Apple iPad: Specs Compared

Nick Mokey, Digital Trends: "RIM can’t hold a candle to Apple’s app collection, but with the PlayBook, it has successfully managed to outspec Apple in a number of key categories. The PlayBook’s small size makes it eminently more portable than the iPad, its high-quality cameras will appeal to business users who want to Skype with family and coworkers from across the globe, and a dual-core processor will even tickle the fancy of performance geeks – not something RIM is used to doing. The PlayBook will also appeal to BlackBerry’s core constituency with the same tight enterprise support as its phones, BlackBerry tethering, and smartphone integration that will allow owners of both devices to switch back and forth between both devices seamlessly – starting an e-mail on a Bold 9700, for instance, then finishing it on the PlayBook."

WattPad App For PlayBook

eBookNewser: "Yesterday BlackBerry unveiled its plans for a new tablet computer called the PlayBook and since then it seems that all of the eReader app companies are getting into the action. Kobo released a social eReading app for the new tablet, which is expected out in early 2011. Amazon announced their Kindle app for the tablet. And now eBook community site WattPad has their app ready to go."

With BlackBerry PlayBook, R.I.M. Returns to Corporate User Roots

NYTimes.com: "Research In Motion, the Canadian maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, introduced its first tablet computer on Monday at a developers’ conference in San Francisco. But in a return to its roots, the company said that the new device, the BlackBerry PlayBook, would be aimed mainly at business users. ... "