CES 2011 is one of the most famous technology conferences in the world. During several days, representatives of the biggest companies on the planet gather to present current or future products. Apple has been absent from CES for several years and unfortunately this year it will do the same, but its products will definitely be there because a whole series of accessories or products that will work together with iDevices will be presented.
Leaving aside Apple's CES strategy, yes discuss about the new tablets that will be presented this week and launched during this year. It is estimated that at the moment there are more than 100 tablet PCs in production and they will be launched on the market in the next 2 years. Among these, the most important ones belong to the companies Microsoft, Motorola, Toshiba, HP or HTC, and some of them will be presented this week. Microsoft has been working on a new generation of tablet PCs for some time and it is rumored that the giant from Redmond will present several tablet models this year at CES, but also a product that would compete with the already famous Apple TV. The tablets will of course run the recently launched Windows Phone 7, so they probably won't attract buyers' attention from the very beginning.
Microsoft's going to make a splash in this market with a stripped-down version of Windows tailored for set-top boxes and connected TVs. The software is a version of its embedded device software, overlaid with the Windows Media Center interface, with media streaming and remote-control capabilities.
Toshiba is preparing an Android tablet with a 10.1-inch screen, but unfortunately this could only be available this summer, so Apple will have plenty of time to launch the iPad 2, iPhone 5 and iOS 5 by then. The big problem with these tablets is that they run the smartphone version of Android OS, so we will see an experience similar to that offered by the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Android Honeycomb, the tablet version of Android OS, will be available later this year, but it will require dual-core processors to work at its true potential and Motorola's tablet will be the first sold with this new OS.
Android Honeycomb will require a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor to run properly, according to Bobby Cha, managing director of Korean consumer electronics firm Enspert. (Motorola, incidentally, will be first to market with a Honeycomb-powered tablet.
The iPad tablet will indeed have some strong competitors in the tablets that will be presented this week at CES 2011, but the iPad 2 will probably be clearly superior to the devices prepared by the competition, or at least that's what we all hope.
