Tablets unlikely to arrive en masse this year

With most first-tier PC vendors lacking a content supply platform and support from telecom carriers, and with Google's Honeycomb operating system (Android 3.5) not likely to be released until the first quarter of 2011, vendors are unlikely to start mass shipping their tablet PCs by the end of this year, according to sources from notebook makers.

Currently, smartphone brands such as Samsung Electronics, Motorola and RIM are more aggressive launching tablet PC products to compete against Apple's iPad, while PC brands are turning conservative toward the market. Hewlett-Packard (HP) is currently focusing on developing a Web OS-based tablet PC, while some PC brands are considering skipping Google 3.0 (GingerBread) and will adopt Honeycomb directly, the sources noted.