 Blackberry representatives show the new PlayBook tablet to attendees at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show on Jan. 6, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. AFP photo |
Electronic book readers were all the rage at last year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as companies raced to come out with rivals to Amazon's Kindle. This year they are all chasing Apple’s iPad.
CES, which opened Thursday, has been hit by tablet-mania. Dozens of companies are displaying touchscreen tablet computers or prototypes in a bid to take a bite out of a fast-growing market dominated so far by Apple.
Shawn Dubravac, chief economist for the Consumer Electronics Association, or CEA, the organizer of the event, estimated that more than 100 firms from around the world would be making tablet announcements at this year's show.
But like many of last year's e-reader hopefuls, quite a few of the devices may never see the light of day, he said.
At last year's CES, organizers for the first time set aside a special section on the sprawling Las Vegas Convention Center just for e-readers.
Not this year. Tablet sales are forecast to eclipse those of e-readers in 2011 despite the head start enjoyed by the Kindle and other e-reader makers such as Sony and U.S. bookstore chain Barnes & Noble.
According to the CEA, tablet computer sales will double this year to 30 million units while e-reader sales will total nearly 20 million units.
Technology research firm Gartner forecasts even higher tablet computer shipments in 2011 - more than 55 million units worldwide.
Explosive growth
One explanation provided by analysts for the explosive growth of tablets over e-readers is the Web browsing and multi-media entertainment experience they offer in addition to serving as digital book readers.
Many of the tablets unveiled at CES bear a strong physical resemblance to the iPad, although some offer screens that are half the size of the iPad's 9.7-inch (24.6-centimeter) display. Most of the new entrants also boast front- and rear-facing cameras, a feature not included on the first generation of the iPad, and a USB port.
Motorola Mobility announced Wednesday that it will be the first to market with a tablet, the Xoom, featuring Android 3.0, or Honeycomb, software designed specifically for tablets by Google.
Bill Monroe, a spokesman for Toshiba, which plans to market an Android-based tablet this spring, said the upcoming device will be able to run Flash-based applications.
Taiwan's Asus is seeking to differentiate its tablets from the iPad with hybrid models that marry a touchscreen tablet with a laptop by including a slide-out keyboard like on some mobile phones.
Other tablets, like the Qooq from France's Unowhy, are seeking to carve out a niche.
Described as the "cookbook of the 21st century" or "Kindle for the kitchen," the Qooq offers recipes, tutorials and, its inventor Jean-Yves Hepp said, "it is able to withstand the assaults of butter, flour, milk and honey."
CES, which opened Thursday, has been hit by tablet-mania. Dozens of companies are displaying touchscreen tablet computers or prototypes in a bid to take a bite out of a fast-growing market dominated so far by Apple.
Shawn Dubravac, chief economist for the Consumer Electronics Association, or CEA, the organizer of the event, estimated that more than 100 firms from around the world would be making tablet announcements at this year's show.
But like many of last year's e-reader hopefuls, quite a few of the devices may never see the light of day, he said.
At last year's CES, organizers for the first time set aside a special section on the sprawling Las Vegas Convention Center just for e-readers.
Not this year. Tablet sales are forecast to eclipse those of e-readers in 2011 despite the head start enjoyed by the Kindle and other e-reader makers such as Sony and U.S. bookstore chain Barnes & Noble.
According to the CEA, tablet computer sales will double this year to 30 million units while e-reader sales will total nearly 20 million units.
Technology research firm Gartner forecasts even higher tablet computer shipments in 2011 - more than 55 million units worldwide.
Explosive growth
One explanation provided by analysts for the explosive growth of tablets over e-readers is the Web browsing and multi-media entertainment experience they offer in addition to serving as digital book readers.
Many of the tablets unveiled at CES bear a strong physical resemblance to the iPad, although some offer screens that are half the size of the iPad's 9.7-inch (24.6-centimeter) display. Most of the new entrants also boast front- and rear-facing cameras, a feature not included on the first generation of the iPad, and a USB port.
Motorola Mobility announced Wednesday that it will be the first to market with a tablet, the Xoom, featuring Android 3.0, or Honeycomb, software designed specifically for tablets by Google.
Bill Monroe, a spokesman for Toshiba, which plans to market an Android-based tablet this spring, said the upcoming device will be able to run Flash-based applications.
Taiwan's Asus is seeking to differentiate its tablets from the iPad with hybrid models that marry a touchscreen tablet with a laptop by including a slide-out keyboard like on some mobile phones.
Other tablets, like the Qooq from France's Unowhy, are seeking to carve out a niche.
Described as the "cookbook of the 21st century" or "Kindle for the kitchen," the Qooq offers recipes, tutorials and, its inventor Jean-Yves Hepp said, "it is able to withstand the assaults of butter, flour, milk and honey."
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