The reason Apple devices and those using Google’s mobile OS will be able to stay dominant is because both have a significant platform advantage: the availability of software and content from development and publishing partners. It’s an advantage that In-Stat thinks will be insurmountable for competitors, and the recent cautionary tale of HP’s TouchPad seem to back that assumption up.

The TouchPad's multitasking was one of its strengths but ultimately couldn't save it.

While many were impressed with webOS, the mobile operating system powering the TouchPad, and not offended by the hardware itself (which did have more in common with the original iPad than the current model, despite competing for consumers’ dollars with the newer Apple device), third-party developer support was severely lacking when compared to the iOS and Android ecosystems.

In-Stat also predicts that the overall tablet market will grow to 250 million shipments by 2017, up from around 17 million in 2010. New devices from Apple, Motorola, LG and HTC will help spur that growth, according to the report, as well as new devices from BlackBerry. It’s that last one I’m not so sure about. RIM’s PlayBook isn’t doing so hot so far, and we’ve heard that carrier support is eroding for the device, at least in the U.S. In-Stat even acknowledges that “wireless operator business models could have a tremendous impact on future tablet demand,” and I agree; subsidies will help non-Apple devices catch up. If RIM is already being locked out in that regard for poor performance, it seems unlikely that new tablet designs from the BlackBerry maker could turn the tide.

The PlayBook is a 7-inch device, a form factor outnumbered among tablets by larger screens.

One final highlight from the In-Stat report: The company predicts 9- to 11-inch devices to rule the roost, with 56 percent of the tablet market. I agree that larger screens will continue to beat out smaller devices, but I question whether it will even be that close of a race. As of yet, 7-inch devices haven’t really proved their viability: Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is the best-selling example, and it still doesn’t seem to have come close to the iPad’s numbers, even if you count shipments instead of sales.

I fully agree with In-Stat that the tablet market will expand by leaps and bounds in the next few years, and I also agree that iOS and Android will lead that expansion. But I’m not sure that Android will make up as much of that expansion as In-Stat suggests. Google is beset on all sides by patent claims that call in to question Android’s future, and it has yet to release a solid version of its mobile OS that really stands up well on tablet hardware. One thing’s for sure: Apple has a seat at the head of the tablet table, and that’s a very good place to be, if recent trends are any indication.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues
• Tablet market to hit over 377 million units by 2016
• Is there a tablet market, or is it just an iPad market after all?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Tablet market to hit over 377 million units by 2016
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues
• The rise of tablets in the enterprise

According to German news agency dpa, the Regional Court of Dusseldorf’s preliminary injunction states that Samsung must halt all sales and promotion of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the EU, thanks to a stipulation that allows companies to apply for a pan-European injunction that covers all EU member states. Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents says the injunction should take immediate effect in Germany, but additional formalities may be required before it takes effect elsewhere. The new Galaxy Tab 10.1 went on sale in Britain only last week, but Samsung might have to put it back in the box, at least until the company appeals the judgement, which will take four weeks time at the soonest.

Samsung has already had to delay its launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, following similar legal wrangling by Apple. If Apple can make this and other decisions stick, this is going to put a serious kink in Samsung’s mobile ambitions. Rodman and Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar shared with us a research report that argues as much, saying Samsung won’t be able to successfully negotiate Apple’s IP blockade, and will have to go “back to the drawing board” to come up with its own IP. That was before this decision came down, so it actually looks even more plausible in light of the injunction.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Is there a tablet market, or is it just an iPad market after all?
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues
• What Google’s Honeycomb Means for Apple and Microsoft

RIM’s workforce has ballooned since 2006, indicating on the surface that it’s keeping pace with the fast-growing mobile-device segment. Unfortunately, sales of BlackBerry phones aren’t. Companies such as Apple, Samsung and even beleaguered Nokia all sell more smartphones than RIM, and the company only makes smartphones — with the exception of the new PlayBook tablet, which has some pros but more cons to some and doesn’t appear to be selling well. Here is the company’s positioning on the job cuts:

RIM today provided further details on its cost optimization program, which is focused on eliminating redundancies and reallocating resources to focus on areas that offer the highest growth opportunities and alignment with RIM’s strategic objectives.  The workforce reduction is believed to be a prudent and necessary step for the long term success of the company and it follows an extended period of rapid growth within the company whereby the workforce had nearly quadrupled in the last five years alone.

The entire situation reemphasizes that RIM has been too slow to change in a market that’s moving fast. The BlackBerry Storm, an attempt at an all-touchscreen device, was met with fanfare in 2008, but it never materialized as a solid competitor to Apple’s iPhone. Last year’s BlackBerry Torch was more evolution than revolution.

And the company’s plan to run future phones on a QNX-powered platform makes sense, but RIM bought QNX in April of 2010 and there are still no handsets announced for the new operating system. Instead, new Bold handsets are the latest offerings announced; they appear delayed and will run a new version of BlackBerry OS, not QNX. They’re also not expected to be upgradable to QNX either.

It wasn’t that long ago when the words “smartphone” and “BlackBerry” were synonymous to many. The times have changed drastically, but RIM has only changed marginally.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Robert_Elder

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• CES 2012: a recap and analysis
• Takeaways from mobile’s second quarter
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

Nook2Android sells microSD cards in various storage capacities, starting at $35 for an 8 GB card. The memory card isn’t blank though. Instead, it already has all of the files needed to turn the eReader into an Android tablet. That’s perfect for non-techies, because it’s just a matter of buying the card, inserting it into the Nook Color and then powering on the e-reader. Bam! You’ve got an Android tablet without needing to download or install any software!

Tech-savvy folks will surely pass on such a product, but it’s actually a relatively cheap and simple method for others to get more functionality out of the Nook Color. The latest version of the Nook2Android cards, launched earlier this month, have the files for both the standard Nook operating system as well as the Android tablet image. That means the memory card can simply stay in the device and users can choose which mode they want upon boot up. Prior to this, you’d have to remove the Nook2Android card from the Nook Color to use it in its standard e-reader mode.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• Disruptapalooza 2011: how Amazon’s Kindle is changing the portable media game
• Tablets wars: Apple is from Venus, Amazon is from Mars

For a pure reading experience, most would agree that devices such as Amazon’s Kindle, the Barnes & Noble Nook, and Sony Reader are exceptional. All use high-contrast electronic ink screens that only use power when “turning” the page, so the batteries last for weeks or months at a time. These also focus the user solely on reading with few to no external distractions. I sold my Kindle for an iPad, since the tablet can double as an e-reader, but I sometimes miss the simplicity of my old e-reader. I can read without any distractions like email notifications or the desire to check my Twitter stream, for example.

Perhaps the best, and worst, development in the recent history of e-books is the ability to read content on multiple devices. That’s what enabled me to sell my Kindle: Amazon’s software for iOS brings e-book reading to the tablet with a wide range of additional functionality. Other e-reader platforms have followed suit, and that has allowed tablet owners to continue enjoying digital books, provided they don’t mind giving up the paper-like eInk display of a dedicated e-reader. In-Stat’s survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, for example, shows 38 percent own a tablet vs just 26 percent who own an e-reader.

I doubt, however, that the current e-book sellers will cease making hardware anytime soon, as there are still too many people who prefer the focused experience an e-reader brings. Besides, the booksellers make the same money from content regardless of the device it’s read on. Barnes & Noble as well as Kobo have bucked the tablet trend by recently introducing new standalone devices at prices under $139. Amazon has dropped the price of its Kindle to as low as $114, provided consumers don’t mind seeing special offer advertisements.

On the other hand, the Nook Color actually doubles as a usable Android device , complete with apps, while Amazon is expected to debut its own tablet later this year. Again, software is driving the change. With a download, e-books can be read on smartphones, tablets or even a personal computer, in a pinch. This flexibility helps me read two to three e-book titles a week. Whenever I have a few minutes, I simply read with whatever device I have on hand. For some that will be single purpose device, but for a growing number of consumers, a connected tablet will be the e-reader of choice.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Connected Consumer Q2: Digital music meets the cloud; e-book growth explodes
• Forecast: the evolution of the e-book market
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

Tim Cook was joined by Apple SVP of Retail Ron Johnson and CFO Peter Oppenheimer during the meeting with Shope. Of course, they remained mum on the details of future Apple products (including iOS 5, which is due for at least a preview Monday at WWDC 2011), but they were vocal about iOS and Android as a general subject.

Shope came away from the meeting with the iOS-Android battle framed by the Apple execs as a showdown between integrated and fragmented platforms. It’s a line Apple has used before, but Apple expanded on its position, noting “that an open and free OS like Android was bound to enjoy a rapid expansion in its overall installed base near-term, but over time, the perils of platform fragmentation would weaken the value of this installed base and the overall platform ecosystem.” Basically, Shope is saying Android’s hardware agnostic approach will give it lots of users fast, but those users ultimately won’t add to the strength of the platform as much as iOS users do. Apple seems to be stalling its market share decline recently relative to Google, in app downloads and in handset use, so the negative effects of that fragmentation may already be taking hold.

I found it much more interesting that Cook believes tablet sales will eclipse PC sales, though he did say that it would happen only gradually “over the next several years,” something that seems inconceivable given the current reach of the PC. But Business Insider previously reported that consumer PC growth is set to be negative for the first time in quite a while, Gartner shows that PC growth is slowing amid a shift to mobile devices, and iPad sales are on track to increase 72 percent year-over-year for the June quarter, according to Shope’s estimates. Microsoft seems to also see tremendous potential in the tablet market, since the Windows 8 operating system it just started previewing also sports a fancy tablet mode.

In terms of use, it does seem like a lot of users are using their tablets as computer replacements already, and the iPad is leading that charge. It is very possible that one day, the iPad could be the standard computing device for most users and households, but I’d say it will be years before we see a tipping point. What do you think? Is the tablet the next PC?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Is there a tablet market, or is it just an iPad market after all?
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues
• How AT&T Will Deal with iPad Data Traffic

eBay detailed its iPad 2 sales info in the infographic below, complete with a breakdown of where sales were distributed geographically. The vast majority (65 percent) of iPad 2 purchases made through the site were U.S.-based, which is a little surprising since last year U.S. buyers accounted for only 35 percent of sales during the first two weeks following the original iPad’s launch. Heightened anticipation and demand, the lack of pre-orders and longer lines at U.S. retail locations may account for the increased number of domestic eBay buyers.

eBay buyers paid a significant premium over retail. On average, buyers paid nearly $200 more for the base 16 GB model, which was the most popular model with 30 percent of overall eBay sales. The second most popular seller, the 64 GB iPad 3G, carried an average additional cost of over $400 above Apple’s official asking price.

Some of the highest demand for the iPad 2 outside of the U.S. comes from Canada, Hong Kong, Russia, the UK and Hong Kong, many of which are countries where the iPad either just launched, or will be launching in April. Fears of delays and global stock shortages probably encouraged sales in those countries, despite imminent announced launch dates.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Is there a tablet market, or is it just an iPad market after all?
• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• Rumored Apple Tablet: Opportunities Too Big to Ignore

New Supplier

In order to boost iPad supply, Apple is reportedly taking on a new supplier of displays for the tablet. According to the Taiwan Economic News, AU Optronics Corp, which is the world’s fourth-largest LCD maker by volume, has been contracted by Apple to provide flat panel screens for the iPad 2. This would mark the first time Apple has used AUO for iPad supplies. The report also says the rate Apple will pay for the displays is roughly three or four times the average rate paid by others for displays of the same size. It’s possible AUO was able to negotiate a very favorable rate in order to guarantee a significant percentage of AUO’s total output capability.

The original iPad was also supply-constrained largely due to an inability to source enough displays. LG Display, one of the iPad’s primary screen suppliers, even went on record as saying it couldn’t keep up with demand from Apple as a result of the tablet’s strong sales. Adding another supplier for the iPad 2 should greatly increase Apple’s ability to get products into people’s hands.

Absorbing Higher Costs

We reported earlier that Apple was mulling a decision to increase what it pays for components in order to secure the supply stock it needed following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. DigiTimes reported Thursday that indeed, Apple has agreed to such a deal. According to the article, Apple will absorb additional costs on its Japanese-made upstream components in exchange for smooth shipments. Many of Apple’s upstream component suppliers source their parts from Japan, where a power-brownout policy is seriously affecting the operations of electronics manufacturers.

If Apple has signed such an agreement with AUO, other companies producing tablets may feel the heat as Japanese suppliers prioritize Apple to receive a dwindling pool of supplies. The big question will be which companies decide, like Apple, that they can absorb additional costs in exchange for an undisrupted short-term supply.

With ship times through the Apple online store still listed at three to four weeks in the U.S. and internationally, and with lines still forming at Apple Stores worldwide, it’s clear demand still far outpaces supply. Hopefully these additional measures taken by Apple help make sure more customers get what they’re after in a timely fashion.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• Forecast: Tablet App Sales To Hit $8B by 2015
• Rumored Apple Tablet: Opportunities Too Big to Ignore