Sure to draw most of the attention at the conference is a torrent of new tablets from Asus, LG Electronics, Motorola (MOT), Toshiba (TOSYY), and many others—each hoping to replicate the success of Apple's (AAPL) eight-month-old iPad. The stakes of the emerging tablet wars are huge. Apple has an early lead, with an estimated 10 million iPads sold in 2010, and is likely to keep it. But analysts believe the market is set to explode. The research firm iSuppli predicts 57 million tablets will be sold in 2011 and 171 million in 2014. "These companies aren't trying to steal away from Apple. They are betting the overall pie will expand," says Richard Doherty, research director at the Envisioneering Group, who estimates that more than 100 tablets are being introduced at CES this year.
As with smartphones, Google (GOOG) and its hardware partners, including South Korea's LG and Motorola, are in the best position to loosen Apple's grip. At CES, Google was expected to demonstrate a forthcoming version of its mobile Android operating system, called Honeycomb, customized for tablets. Microsoft (MSFT), too, was expected to preview a version of its operating system that will run across all types of devices, from phones to PCs and tablets, and is compatible with low-power, mobile-device chips called ARM processors.
The bottom line: Roughly 100 tablets are being introduced at this year's CES. They're becoming a viable alternative to PCs.
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