Once the iPad went on sale, and sold in a big way (3 million units in under 3 months), it was just a matter of time until other hardware manufacturers scrambled to come out with tablets to compete. Tablet fever is spreading, and spreading fast. Apple CEO Steve Jobs wanted to position the iPad as the flagship of a new category of device, between a smartphone and a laptop. This new category is now starting to fill up with more devices, including a couple that were announced recently – the Stream TV eLocity A7 and the ViewSonic ViewPad 7. (The 7s are not in homage to Windows 7, but in reference to each device’s screen size.)

Both devices boast very iPad-like characteristics, but they both seem to have found ways to differentiate themselves. Over the next several months leading into the Holiday buying season, we can expect to see similar devices from a host of manufacturers, all trying to be similar, but different. It will be difficult to beat the iPad since it was born into a rich family of hundreds of thousands of existing apps, inter-operable siblings (iPhone, iMac, Macbook, etc.), and a cult following. But both the eLocity and the ViewPad 7 are doing their best.

ViewSonic ViewPad 7

The ViewPad 7 comes in as an Android contender,  which is quickly gaining momentum among consumers and developers alike. It will run on Android 2.2 (Froyo), and will likely work with many of the applications already developed for the mobile OS. This will potentially seamlessly connect the tablet to other Android devices such as mobile phones and Google TV devices. That could be a pretty cool trio.

But the ViewSonic also brings a couple more features to the table that were left out of the iPad. It has a VGA forward-facing camera for video chat, and rear-facing 3 megapixel camera. And, perhaps most significantly, the ViewSonic makes phone calls. Why this is not enabled in the iPad still escapes me. It wouldn’t make sense to use it as a conventional handset – after all, few but Chuck Norris would have the strength to hold an iPad up to their ear for more than a minute – but it would make sense in a Bluetooth or ear bud scenario. The combination of all these features could dethrone the iPad as the coolest device in the keyboard-less netbook/oversized smartphone category.

Stream TV eLocity A7

The eLocity A7 focuses its features around its powerful Tegra 2 chips which enable smooth gaming experiences and capacity to output 1080p video. It could be used as a companion device to an HDTV, where you could connect it via HDMI, control it via a wireless keyboard (provided with the device) and watch content from the device on a TV. It is unclear whether the device could be used to pull content from the cloud like the Roku, Xbox Live, or the rumored Apple TV, but coming from a company called Stream TV, you’d certainly hope so. It also runs on Froyo. (So do I, by the way. Three meals a day.)

The eLocity and the ViewPad do seem promising, as do other Android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy tablet. However, they do have one seemingly fatal flaw – they aren’t iPads.

Wow, and Steve Ballmer didn’t.  With as much hype as there is about the iSlate or Apple Tablet, Ballmer, or rather Microsoft, did not rain on the parade of the Apple Tablet at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).  With rumors circulating that Ballmer was going to reveal a Microsoft tablet, Ballmer instead presented the HP touch screen tablet.  As a result of this anti-climatic presentation, the Microsoft and HP shares fell yesterday.

According to Business Week, “Microsoft fell 19 cents to $30.77 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares jumped 57 percent last year. Hewlett- Packard, which advanced 42 percent last year, dropped 49 cents to $52.18 on the New York Stock Exchange.”  While it is uncertain that there is a direct correlation between this stock exchange rate and the rumored Microsoft rival tablet, it is clear that many people were disappointed with Microsoft.

Microsoft could not win in this competition between companies.  If Microsoft had come out with the “Gates Slate” there would have been a tsunami of blogs written about how Microsoft beat Apple to the punch similar to how during the week of the Windows 7 release, Apple released a myriad of new products.  So rather than trying to rival the Apple iSlate, Microsoft decided to concentrate on the Windows 7 compatibility.

However, perhaps Microsoft intentionally did not produce or release a “Gates Slate” because if the Apple iSlate were to blow Microsoft out of the water during Apple’s release, it would have been a worse slap in the face.

So here is the moral of the story, good job Microsoft for not trying to compete with Apple, because Jobs is already on it.

[via The Globe And Mail]

Everyone seems to be obsessing over the iSlate.  Whether this fix of the iSlate is healthy or unhealthy, we will have to wait and see what Apple with bring on January 27th to the Yerba Buena Center?  The buzz online is a frenzy of people re-quoting, retweeting, re-telling, re- everything.  I am surprised that there aren’t any articles yet about how the iSlate will be able to cure cancer or how there there is no ‘ctrl’ button on the iSlate because the iSlate is always in control…or perhaps I am confusing the iSlate with Chuck Norris.

Regardless, I will participate in this MSG addiction to the delicious iSlate dish and serve out some of the rumors:

The Leak -

Supposedly according to MacRumors “Apple acquired the domain name iSlate.com presumably in preparation for the new device. The iSlate.com domain was originally registered in October 2004 by a company called Eurobox Ltd. It later changed hands to Data Docket, Inc. in 2006. In 2007, however, the domain was transferred to registrar MarkMonitor.com. MarkMonitor handles domain name registrations and trademark protections for many companies, including Apple. As is typical, however, the name of the actual registrant was initially hidden to obscure the identify of the actual owner.”

Synapses of Rumors -

The Wall Street Journal states that the mythical tablet will be “a 10 to 11-inch touch screen—which would make it closer in size to Apple’s line of MacBook laptops than its smart phone.”  Furthermore, the WSJ stated that “Yair Reiner, an analyst for Oppenheimer & Co., said in a research note last month that the tablet would be priced at about $1,000, citing sources.”

However even with this speculation, Apple has not made a formal or official statement regarding the iSlate.  Until Apple decides to announce more details about their product, I will consider these rumors as having as much validity as the statement that “There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist” [via ChuckNorrisFacts.com].