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5 iPad Alternatives You Could Be Seeing in the Enterprise Soon

  

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The surprising success of Apple's iPad has been well documented. In fact, the iPad is being adopted in the enterprise much faster than anyone imagined, and that success has spawned lots of competition. Samsung, HP, RIM, Motorola and many others have announced tablets for this year (or have released one). Google recently announced its Honeycomb tablet OS, which will give way to many new models.

Before you even have an iPad strategy in place, you might have to be dealing with a host of other devices and an assortment of operating systems and app stores.

Let's look at five of them you could be seeing soon (if they haven't shown up already):

Samsung Galaxy Tab
The diminutive Galaxy Tab has a 7 inch screen and currently runs Google Android 2.2 (commonly known as Froyo). With a front and back camera, it has two more cameras than the first generation iPad. There have been widely varying reports about the success of this device, but it's gotten good reviews. It's even possible some employees are using one today. Also keep in mind that Samsung has announced a 10.1 inch tablet that will run Honeycomb and be available later this year.

Motorla Xoom
Motorola made a splash with a big Super Bowl ad for this device, but this machine is also reportedly loaded and ready for enterprise use. Like the bigger Samsung, it will sport a 10.1 screen and run Google Honeycomb. At a reported price tag of $800, it's going to be more expensive too. It could be available as soon as this week.

RIM Playbook
With many enterprise users already using Blackberry phones, it seems a natural transition to the RIM Plabook tablet. RIM has been steadily losing marketshare in the smart phone market, but this 7 inch tablet can share data with Blackberry phones and will be compatible with Blackberry Enterprise Server -- which could be attractive to IT.

HP TouchPad  
HP recently announced the TouchPad, running WebOS, which it acquired last year as part of the deal to get Palm. It will have a 9.7 inch screen and be compatible with Microsoft Exchange Server for email purposes. It won't be ready, however until at least this summer.

iPad 2 and 3
And even before these iPad alternatives can make a splash comes word that Apple has the second generation iPad in production, and may even be working on a third generation. That means, these devices will be competing with the next generation of Apple devices, just talk of which, is enough to freeze buyers into waiting to see what it looks like.