Two years ago there was one tablet, the iPad. The iPhone was the hottest thing on the market, and the Android phone competition was just getting started. At about that time a small startup company named Notion Ink started a blog and a web page with a few drawings of what they hoped would be an exceptional alternative to the existing iPad. It has taken them over a year to get the prototype into pre-order production, and they still don’t have fully functional software for, what was a year ago, pretty spiffy hardware. In the mean time Ainol with the Nova 7 Paladin, Asus with the Transformer, Motorola with the Xoom, Samsung with the Galaxy, and Sony with the Tablet S, and many others, have delivered fully functional tablets running the latest Android software.

This just goes to show that having a good idea, and Notion Ink’s Adam was a great idea, is not enough to beat the competition. You also need to have the resources to deliver that good idea before your competitors can produce a comparable product. While Notion Ink is getting started on the design of their second innovation in the tablet market, Asus and Apple have already delivered their second versions, Apple has not only delivered the iPad 2, but is already talking about their third version.

Hopefully Notion Ink will not give up its attempts at innovation, because the dreamers in the marketplace drive the success of all the other participants. Sony has copied the side bulge introduced in the Adam tablet design, and Logitec produces a Bluetooth keyboard with the same matching styled bulge. The really good ideas eventually become the standards. However, being creative is no guarantee of success, and you don’t beat a path to dominance in the market with creativity alone. It also takes the resources necessary to deliver those new ideas to the customer.

While tablets are clearly the latest, greatest, sliced bread to hit the market since the smart phone, it is unlikely that they will completely replace the desktop computers and laptops. These will continue to have a place in our needs list for some time. Tablets may eventually replace the laptop, but only if their peripheral devices become wireless and easy to use with a tablet. For the time being though, built in keyboards and CD/DVD players keep the laptop the superior tool for mobile applications. The recent net-book craze however, will almost certainly be superseded by the tablet. Only time will tell.