It’s hard to take 20 steps at 
CES without someone thrusting a tablet computer at you this year.
With Apple having paved the way for tablets last year, 2011 is when the competition is hoping to chip away at the company’s dominance in the category. It’s going to be a tough fight, though.
A little under a year ago, Apple began 
cleaning up its app store, seemingly banning app after app that had any form of titillation. Citing complaints from customers who found the apps degrading and upset about what children were able to see, the company vigorously purged hundreds of apps that focused on subjects such as women in swimsuits.
But porn is like water. It finds a way into everything and is actually thriving on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
In just eight months, Apple has 
managed to create one of the computer world’s fastest-growing and most lucrative sub markets. And the competitors are getting tired of Steve Jobs and Co. hogging the spotlight.
Launched in April 2010, the iPad has quickly come to define tablet computing. Consumers have snatched it up, with 2010 sales expected to total between 15 million and 19.5 million units. With prices ranging from $499 to $829, the iPad is a huge breadwinner for the company; Apple can’t keep up with demand.
Apple might have a tight grip on the tablet market today, but at CES, the competition will come at it with both guns blazing. Here’s a look at what you can expect:
The Android tablets – Google’s mobile operating system is the de facto choice for companies going up against Apple. The problem is it’s optimized for phones, not tablets. At CES, there will be a lot of talk about devices using Honeycomb, a new version of the OS designed for tablets. Asus, Acer, Samsung, Toshiba and others are expected to have new tablet offerings revolving around Honeycomb, which should hit the street sometime in the second quarter.
Read more at Daily Variety
While there are plenty of companies gunning for Apple as the tablet market heats up, most have one thing in common: They’re planning to use price as a battlefield.
The iPad might be affordable by Apple standards, but it’s hardly a cheap piece of hardware, with prices ranging from $499-$829. And many competitors see that as an opening.
In “The Terminator” film series, mankind 
brought a nuclear Armageddon upon itself when it created Skynet, an artificial intelligence service that became self-aware and rebelled against its creators. In essence, the population became too dependent on technology—and paid the price.
While the Apple iPhone hasn’t shown any Schwarzenegger-like tendencies quite yet, it’s pretty astonishing just how quickly its users have grown to rely on the phones—and how much control they have given it (along with the iPod Touch and iPad) over their day to day lives.
Having picked the brains of Wall Street analysts on the best things to happen in the video game industry in 2010, there was no way we 
were going to let them go without talking about the worst as well.
This year, after all, might end in positive territory when all is said and done, but it’s going to be tough to look at it as a winner from several perspectives. Retail sales continue to spiral and developer-publisher relations took another blow to the chin. Meanwhile, stock prices of publicly traded game companies continued to lag.
Here’s what the analysts thought went wrong in 2010.
Watching music videos on your iPad so far
has been a hit and miss affair. The best course of action has been shuffling through YouTube and crossing your fingers.
Now, Vevo – which is one of the clearinghouse sites for music videos – has launched a dedicated iPad app, letting those folks who miss their MTV to get their fill with more than 25,000 to choose from.
Apple has put together its list of
the top apps and downloads for 2010 – giving an interesting look at how its user base is using its various products.
Games rule supreme for iPhone owners, who pushed them to the top of the paid program charts, but for iPad users, business software beat out everything else.
It was only a matter of time…
While the iPad is the season’s hottest gift, the tech world is already looking toward the sequel – and the rumor mill suggests that a follow-up to the tablet could begin within the next 100 days.
Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog
Chris Morris: Journalist 