Apple is poised to control the tablet market for at least the next year, Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley said today. He estimated that Apple would ship 13.4 million iPads in 2010 and 25.5 million in 2011. The next closest, Samsung's Galaxy Tab, would reach 1.5 million by the end of the year and move another six million in 2011.
RIM's opening DevCon presentations won't show any actual BlackBerrry tablet hardware but may talk about its software, sources mentioned today. Both BGR and Electronista have unofficially heard that the events on Monday won't be product unveilings and will stick to the development focus of the San Francisco conference. The BGR tip added that RIM would talk about the platform, though to what extent wasn't said.
(Update: hardware details) RIM may use BlackBerry DevCon to unveil its repeatedly rumored BlackBerry-related tablet. A San Francisco event on Monday, before the conference in earnest, is said to be very secretive by ZDNet and might precede the actual keynotes for the event, which start with co-CEO Mike Lazaridis' presentation at Moscone Center West. While not necessarily a revelation by itself, it would come just as major companies like Citrix are reportedly promoting services and other products that would support a RIM tablet when ready.
RIM has fueled speculation about its BlackBerry-influenced tablet with a recently discovered trademark filing. An application at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) for a SurfBook name is vague about the uses of the name but would cover all of the likely devices RIM could make, such as a tablet, a computer or a smartphone. A matching trademark hasn't the US, but it's unknown if RIM is simply waiting or is considering using different names in different countries.
The iPad should keep a majority hold on the tablet market for at least the next two years, iSuppli said in a new estimate today. Apple's slate should get 74.1 percent of the market in 2010 and is still predicted to hold on to a dominating 61.7 percent of the market by 2012. Such a lead would come even with the entire Windows tablet PC market in play as well as a wave of new challengers expected to hit in 2011.
Best Buy's mobile lead Shawn Score in an interview on Friday said the store would "make tablets a focus" for the holiday this year. The big-box chain hopes to associate itself with tablets and will put more attention on the iPad and its yet-to-ship competitors. Alternatives to Apple would be important, Score told Forbes, as those who use Android or BlackBerry phones might want tablets based on the same platform.
RIM's BlackPad tablet may drop any attempt to use BlackBerry 6 when it ships, insiders said this morning. It would instead take advantage of the buyout of QNX to use an entirely fresh platform. Bloomberg's sources maintain that it would still tap into BlackBerry e-mail but wouldn't have the legacy code holding back the BlackBerry 6 platform.
The upcoming BlackPad tablet from RIM will purportedly be manufactured by Taiwan's Quanta Computer. Digitimes reports that the device will be powered by Android, though this is unlikely as RIM has always used its proprietary operating systems. The report also has the tablet launching as early as November, or earlier than originally anticipated.
A potentially major rumor today has pinpointed the launch of RIM's BlackBerry tablet to November. A pair of sources said the BlackPad name registered earlier is the final name and that its screen will be roughly similar in size to the iPad. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi would let it tether to a BlackBerry to get online, though Bloomberg didn't say how independent the device would be.
RIM's plans for a BlackBerry tablet were corroborated today as the company is now known to have registered BlackPad.com. A WHOIS check on the domain showed that it was bought just a few days ago on behalf of RIM by CSC, a company specializing in corporate branding. The domain had been owned by others but had gone unused since 2002.
