The year in tablets: Apple dominates, HTC disappoints and HP quits

A tale of lawsuits, fire sales and dual-core chips

The mobile market has been a focus for almost all major electronics manufacturers this year, and 2011 saw big releases, bitter legal disputes and record sales.

Many companies, including HTC, HP, RIM and Sony, entered the tablet market for the first time this year, more in hope than expectation of emulating the runaway success of Apple's iPad.

Apple vs Samsung
The two manufacturers seemed to have an amicable relationship even though they were competitors, as the Korean firm was providing key components for Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPad. However, the two firms had a spectacular falling out over patents in 2011, and now seem to have a rivalry on par with Muhammad Ali and the late Joe Frazier.

The problems began when Samsung released a number of products, starting with the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Apple launched legal proceedings in countries including the US, France, Germany and Australia, claiming that Samsung had "slavishly copied" the design of the iPad. Throughout the year there were lawsuits and counter-suits flying backwards and forwards as each tried to get the upper hand.

Samsung tried everything to defend itself, memorably claiming during the summer that Stanley Kubrick had created tablets in his 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey so the firm could not have infringed any of Apple's design patents.

Unsurprisingly, the defence failed in Germany where Samsung was forced to stop selling the Galaxy Tab and carry out a redesign. However, the firm had better luck in Australia where a judge deemed that no infringement had taken place and Samsung was free to sell the tablet.

Apple iPad 2 dominates
Apple released a sequel that not only lived up to expectations but was better than the original.

The iPad 2 packed a dual-core A5 processor, which doubled the CPU performance and boosted the graphics by nine times over the original. Apple added front and rear video cameras, and a video calling application known as FaceTime.

Apple also trimmed the iPad's thickness from 13.8mm to 8.8mm, and made the 3G version over 100g lighter at 613g. The only features that remained the same were the 9.7in screen and 10-hour battery life, but these were exceptional and we can't fault Apple for that.

According to official figures, the firm has sold 32.39 million iPads this year, and we wouldn't bet against Apple bettering this number next year when the iPad 3 is likely to make an appearance.

The year in tablets: Apple dominates, HTC disappoints and HP quits

A tale of lawsuits, fire sales and dual-core chips

Android Honeycomb debuts In an attempt to make Android tablets more intuitive, Google redesigned the Android interface, which debuted on the Motorola Xoom.

Android 3.0 took a little getting used to, but did provide a step up in terms of functionality as it used the larger screens in a far better way than previous versions of the operating system.

Google also improved the widgets, introduced visual multi-tasking and enhanced the speed of web browsing, and did away with the need for physical menu buttons by incorporating on-screen context-sensitive buttons into the interface.

RIM, HTC and Sony enter the fray
By mid-2011 most if not all manufacturers had entered the tablet market or had stated their intentions to do so. RIM, HTC and Sony tried to take the fight to Apple and Samsung, but ended up falling short.

RIM got off to a reasonable start in May with the 7in BlackBerry PlayBook, selling around 250,000 units in the first month, despite having the same £400 price tag as the larger iPad 2. However, sales tapered off, and by September RIM had to deny claims that it was going to scrap the PlayBook.

In an attempt to boost sales, RIM started offering two tablets for the price of one and the firm took a $485m hit in third-quarter revenues so it could slash the PlayBook price. If there is inventory left over in 2012, you will probably be able to pick one up at a bargain basement price.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese manufacturer HTC tried to use its success in the smartphone market as a springboard to launch the Flyer in June. We expected better from HTC, and were disappointed with the single-core 1.5GHz processor and Android Gingerbread, as other devices were shipping with the tablet-specific Honeycomb OS.

HTC included a stylus in an attempt to differentiate it from competing products, but this wasn't enough to win over consumers and the firm has since gone back to the drawing board.

Last but not least, Sony entered the market in September with the Tablet S after being in the headlines during 2011 for all the wrong reasons. The firm spent most of the year apologising to customers after its PlayStation network was hacked and the personal details of 70 million customers were compromised.

Sony's luck didn't improve, and the firm couldn't really have picked a worse moment to release a tablet, as the market was flooded with cheaper Android devices. It remains to be seen how many Sony has sold, but it looks like a niche product.

The year in tablets: Apple dominates, HTC disappoints and HP quits

A tale of lawsuits, fire sales and dual-core chips

HP's fire sale
HP had a rollercoaster 2011, carrying out a catalogue of goofs that even a Hollywood script writer would have struggled to make up.

Just seven weeks after releasing the TouchPad, the firm's first tablet based on the webOS operating system, HP made the sudden announcement that it was to discontinue the platform and all its associated devices.

This triggered a fire sale, with the consent of HP, as retailers slashed prices to get rid of mountains of stock. With the price cut from £400 to just £89, there was a mad rush because, considering the specifications, it was the bargain of the year.

Ironically, the sale meant that the TouchPad became the second most popular tablet in the US behind the iPad, albeit for a short time. HP then backtracked on its earlier decision and announced that it would keep webOS going as an open source project, so the firm could re-enter the tablet market in the future.

2012 and beyond
Nearly every tablet released this year packed a dual-core processor to boost performance. Nvidia's Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core chip was the processor of choice for the majority of manufacturers, and it was found in almost all Android tablets.

Nvidia finally unveiled its long-awaited quad-core 1.3GHz Tegra 3 chip in November. The Tegra 3 will make its debut in the Asus Transformer Prime in January, and we expect it to be included in many high-profile devices throughout the year.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is expected to release Windows 8 tablets sometime in 2012 that will run on ARM architectures. This could deal a significant blow to Intel, which has yet to establish itself in the mobile market as its current chips are too power hungry and require more space than their system-on-a-chip counterparts.

We do expect to see Windows 8 tablets based on the Intel architecture next year, and the chip firm will no doubt be relieved to see that legacy Windows apps will not be available on ARM devices.