As I’ve said before 2010 is the year of the tablet, but we need to keep in mind – it’s not [...]]]>

So now Nokia is the latest participant in the tablet race.  And who cares?  Maybe the same crowd that thinks there’s still hope for Palm (See my note at the end of this article)?

As I’ve said before 2010 is the year of the tablet, but we need to keep in mind – it’s not about the hardware, but it’s all about the content.  As I see it the only worthy opponent for Apple’s market share is the Google Android, and it comes back to the applications.  And the HP Slate is bound to fail as it will be built on the cumbersome Windows 7 Mobile protocol, great for Netbooks – but not a thumb friendly OS.

The Tablet Market was open to anyone for the past several years, so this 12th hour attempt to get into a market because they need to compete with Apple is doomed to fail.

People seem to forget that the iPad isn’t some whim, rather it’s based on over a decade (plus) of software design, testing and real-world use centered around it’s iPod/iPhone platform.   Early versions of both the iPhone and iPod did have their bugs and flaws.

But at the heart of why Apple will win is content.  Every new iPhone/iTouch/iTunes app, song or video that a person buys is an additional strike against all other competitors.   Windows success as a computing platform can be traced back to being first to market.  As consumers purchased more and more Windows based products, the more entrenched the operating system became.

(This was wrote in April – before Palm was purchased by HP)

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