ARM expects 50 iPad competitors this year –Computerworld

This Computerworld article sounds about right. Segmentation is Apple’s friend in this case as all of the competitors are scrambling and confusing consumers to become #2.  Even though Apple is the 51st ARM tablet because the A4 is an ARM design, it clearly stands out from the pack as THE tablet.  The hype around the iPad is easily bigger than all of the other Joojoos/Slates combined.

I think the tablet game is going to play out like this:  You’ll have the other ARM tablets on the low end (Dell, etc) that cost less than the iPad and pick up the audience that can’t justify the $500 entry cost.  Then you’ll have the Intel Atom tablets (JooJoo/HP) priced about the same as the iPad but with more “features” (cameras, Adobe Flash, etc.) that may appeal to a select few in the corporate market.  You’ll also have the eReaders that will become marginalized because of their lack of important features and color screens.

Apple has a big head start on everyone both in mindshare and in OS maturity.  With weeks left until the launch of the “Year of the Tablet”, its hard to see any competitors even coming close to Apple’s iPad.

Update: Fortune has a similar piece