iPad 2 Up, Samsung Galaxy Tab Down & Tablets Out For The Count

Tablets are the new rage. There's no denying that the tablet market has exploded since the release of Apple's iPad. Their tablet device managed to stir the entire market up, and now everyone is racing to get the best of the best into the customer's hands. Or, perhaps the point is just to sell as many as possible. Whatever the case may be, it seems to be working. The iPad is still selling like hot cakes, and it's already targeted as one of the most wanted devices for this holiday season. But, there are competitors, some of them pretty strong in their own right. And yet, as tablet sales are surely going to continue forward with strong figures, it seems that some analysts see some of the strongest competitors out there holding back on production, due to low sales. While there are other tablets being sold out within just a few hours. So, what's the deal?

There's no telling what, exactly, drives a person's desire for a product. Some want functionality. Some want a clean User Interface. And some want all of it, all bundled up in a nice package. Some would argue that Apple has that, while others would say that the Galaxy Tab does all of that and more. In the case of the second generation iPad, which is starting to hit the limelight more and more as we reach the first quarter of 2011, there are so many rumors about what that device will feature, it's getting ridiculous. From a front-facing camera for FaceTime calling, to being reinforced with Carbon Fiber for better protection, the rumors are painting quite the interesting, and high-end device. Of course, the software will play a major role in the device, which is still not officially announced, so it will be interesting to see what Apple does indeed have in store for the next iteration of their tablet device.

And now, with rumors that the second generation iPad will be a world-based device, featuring both GSM and CDMA, the tables would certainly get more interesting. If the iPad can launch with that sort of technology, with more hardware features (like a USB port), and other features that people are clamoring for, it would be hard to suggest that the second generation iPad wouldn't see the same, if not better, adoption rate as the first one. And, with the suppliers of the device supposedly made official now, we know there's only a matter of months before we get to see what, exactly, Apple has in store for the tablet market.

What about the Galaxy Tab from Samsung? Samsung hopes to sell millions of the tablet device by the end of the year, but one analyst believes that Samsung has been forced to pull back on manufacturing of the device. Why? Because of low sales. While Samsung still hasn't commented on the analyst's claims, it would be tough to believe that, considering the adoption rate of the Samsung Galaxy S smartphones, that the tablet version isn't seeing anywhere near the same pick-up rate. Of course, with its larger display, but many of the same functions and features as its smartphone counterpart, perhaps it's just too similar to what people already have. (But, couldn't the same argument be made for the iOS-based iPad?) In the end, if the analyst's report is accurate, and Samsung is indeed pulling back manufacturing of the Tablet, the globally-available device may be a hard thing to come by this holiday season, which would ultimately affect the sales numbers for Samsung in a huge way.

And then there's the brand new, also Android-based Advent Vega tablet. The new device officially went on sale today, and in a matter of hours, was already sold out. There's no word on how many tablet devices were originally manufactured, but we can safely assume that it was more than 10. There's also no word, as of the time of this writing anyway, as to when people can expect to get their hands on the tablet device. Does this, working in perfect counter-point to the analyst's claims regarding Samsung, show that tablet devices are still a hot market property, and that if there is indeed a slump in purchases, that it's quickly fading away? Will this holiday season show that tablets are the device to have, or will consumers focus on another part of the market? In the coming weeks, we should have our answer, and either way, the results should be interesting.