International Consumer Electronics Show

It's impossible to walk the floor at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show without stumbling across a multitude of keyboard-less touch-screen computers expected to hit the market in the coming months. With Apple estimated to have sold more than 13 million iPads last year alone, the competition is anyway you look at it for second place, now even that prize is worth pursuing.

Technology technology firm Gartner Inc. expects that 55 million tablet computers will be shipped this year, most of them nevertheless iPads, however there will be room for rivals to vie for sales of the remaining 10 million to 15 million devices.

Companies tried for years to popularize tablets, nevertheless the frenzy began only with the release of the iPad in April. Nevertheless companies whose names don't include the word "Apple" are doing everything they can to differentiate themselves from the tablet front-runner.

They're adding bells and whistles the iPad doesn't but have - just as front and back cameras for video chatting and picture taking and the ability to work over then-generation 4G data networks - in hopes of taking on the iPad, or meanwhile carving out a niche.

The upcoming Honeycomb version of Google Inc

It will as well include the upcoming Honeycomb version of Google Inc.'s Android software. Honeycomb has been designed for the larger touch screens on tablets; current versions of Android, used in many of the tablets at CES, are meant more for the smaller touch screens on smart phones.

For example, Gmail on a Honeycomb tablet shows a list of e-mails in one column and the body of the one you're reading in a second column. On a current Android phone, you'd only see one column at a time.

The tablet, which will start selling in March for an as-but-unknown price, will as well work on Verizon Wireless' existing, 3G network with the naked eye and later be upgradeable to work on its faster 4G network.

Tablets that work with a wireless carrier's high-speed data network may be a key to success in the tablet space, said Ross Rubin, an analyst for NPD Group, a market innovation firm. During a version of the iPad can use AT&T Inc.'s 3G network, Apple has not but announced a plan for it to use any of the new 4G networks.

Lot of tablet usage in the home

"Today we see a lot of tablet usage in the home. Maybe tying it to a faster network can ... in effect expand the on-the-go use case for these products," Rubin said.

No matter how so then any of the new contenders are received, even though, analysts expect Apple to dominate in the tablet market for for the time being two years. With Apple's habit of annually refreshing its products, chances are the iPad will gain new features early this year that could launch it even furthermore ahead of the competition.

The market opened up

But if the market opened up by Apple's other mobile triumph, the iPhone, is any indication, they will. Since its 2007 debut the iPhone has been immensely popular, now it as well sparked increased consumer demand for other smart phones - in the end including those running Android.

This extends to operating software, too: Some tablets shown ran Microsoft Corp.'s PC software, Windows 7. Technology In Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry phones, demonstrated its forthcoming PlayBook tablet, which is geared toward business users and runs new software built by QNX Software Systems, which RIM took over in 2010.

Wi-Fi version of the PlayBook early this year

RIM plans to start selling a Wi-Fi version of the PlayBook early this year, and a version that operates on Sprint Nextel Corp.'s 4G network is due to arrive in the summer.

Android was evidently the software of choice at CES, although, and Honeycomb in particular. Rotman Epps sees this as the software for the first "real" Android tablet, in spite of the arrival of several non-Honeycomb Android tablets just as Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy Tab last year. She thinks Honeycomb will help new tablets make their mark.

If you haven't heard, the value of a minute of voice time on AT&T's network just tanked, until further notice for iPhone users, with last week's release of Viber, a new free VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) app just released on the iTunes App Store.