Since the release of the iPad the market has been buzzing with all kinds of insider speculation around Apple’s competitors and what they might do. The first to market has been an iPad clone – going by the moniker of iRobot – and running Google’s Android OS. This little device is slightly smaller with a 7-inch display instead of the 9.7 inch display on the iPad however it appears just as capable, if not moreso, when it comes to playing HD movies, downloading content, or browsing the web.
The iRobot has a price tag of only $199 compared to iPad’s $499 – that’s a considerable difference for a device that I believe is eventually going to be categorized with the Netbook segment of the market. While it only has 2GB of internal storage it does support SD cards, so really a person is only limited by what they want to spend.
While there is word that Research in Motion may be working on a Black Pad code-named Cobalt to compete in the newly revived tablet market (realizing of course that Microsoft made a tablet PC a decade ago) the folks at Adobe have demonstrated their own Andriod-based tablet device that runs Flash as well as Air applications. Air is the new development platform that Adobe is supporting and it has enjoyed modest success since launch.
Another would-be entrant to the space was HP. It is rumoured, since purchasing Palm for 1.3 billion, that they are scrapping their i-Slate project entirely. Will we see a Palm OS based device instead? Only time will tell.
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