The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is scheduled to have approximately 100 tablets on display at this year’s event.
To say that the 2011 CES is all about tablets would still be an understatement.
Few, however, are surprised by the prevalence of tablets at CES in light of the enormous success enjoyed by Apple’s iPad in 2010 – the lone force within the vacuum that was formerly the contemporary tablet marketplace.
And although the Apple tablet will likely remain atop the tablet heap in 2011 as well, the iPad certainly won’t remain lonely in its category for much longer.
Ahead of the kick-off to CES 2011 this week, some of the biggest players in the PC world have given sneaks peaks at their major forthcoming releases in the tech market. No surprise here. They’re tablets.
On Tuesday evening, Lenovo raised the curtain on its 10.1-inch Google Android-based tablet called the LePad ($399 and $449). The touchscreen device will run Android 2.2 and has a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. The LePad, however, will initially go on sale in the Chinese market later this spring. During the second half of 2011, Lenovo plans to release several versions of this Android-based tablet in the US.
Lenovo, of course, wasn’t the only titan of tablets toiling ahead of CES. Asus has also revealed plans to release three distinct families of tablet-style devices, the first of which will be the Eee Slate (approx. $1000). A tablet PC that runs Windows 7, the Eee Slate serves up an Intel Core i5 with up to 4GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD, and a 12.1 inch 1280×800 IPS stylus-compatible screen.
Later in the year, Asus will unveil the Eee Pad Transformer, which is already being most closely compared to the iPad. Also on tap is the MiMO, a 7-inch tablet that delivers a powerful dual-core Qualcomm 8260 Snapdragon ARM application processor. Sporting both rear and front facing cameras (presumably for video chat purposes) the MiMo will run Google’s Android 3.0.
