So the first thought here is, of course, iPad. It's the gold standard. It's thin, it's fast, it has 2 camera's but that's not all. There is also the machine of apple behind it. This makes it almost a must buy in the market of the tablet.
The only other two tablets that I would even think about are the Motorola Xoom and the Galaxy S 10. These two deivces have bigger screens, better desktop environments and google behind them. They still fall short.
There are two major reasons
The Apple App Store.
When you buy an iOS device, your buying the App Store, plain and simple fact. Other app stores, such as the Android market, and the Windows 7 market don't stand up. This mainly because it is simply easier for developers to create content for the devices. When you create a program for iOS you create it for a standard numer of devices, in a sterilized sand box. Although this can create a fence to inovation, it does so in another standardized way. These standards that apple requires of it's developers can help them create products more quickly and draw more power from the hardware.
Other markets are more like the wild west rather than the white room of apple. Developers have a lot to deal with.
- Multiple devices with a myriad of screen sizes and resolutions.
- Different button orientations.
- Subtly different operating systems.
- Well over 10 different hardware set ups.
Programing for a specific breed of android can make it easier but the market is not an integrated one and therefore is hard to create a developing community around.
The Apple device family.
If you buy apple, your introducing your self to a closed box. Your devices will all work with each other fairly seamlessly. Your phone will talk to your tablet. Your computer will sync with your tablet, anything your have that has an apple on it will open up new opportunities for your tablet, your phone, your computer and your tv, to talk to each other.
Attempts by other hardware companies have succeeded in doing this to a certain extent. Sony, Microsoft' and Google are in the data portability market but they have not become a market. The fragmentation between devices is a huge barrier of entry into their tablet options.
The inovation in the tablet computing world will grow into something that is almost unimaginable at this point. Apple does have it's caveats and annoyances. It's iOS platform can use some major updates, like it's notification and tablet "desktop" environment. Consumers are no doubt going to where the apps, and the ese of use and customer support are going to go. Thus will the market.
