iPad 2 hits stores as the new King of Tablets

Apple's iPad 2 hits stores on Friday in the U.S., as the company bids to extend its dominance of the tablet computer market, which it created virtually single-handedly when it launched the original iPad last April.

Early reviews of the device note that it's better than its pioneering predecessor, but not astoundingly so. Apple's engineers and designers have outdone themselves by creating a machine that is lighter and thinner than the original iPad, yet packs in double the processing power, nine times the graphic performance and front and rear facing cameras.

In an amazing demonstration of the economic laws that govern technology development, Apple is also able to sell the iPad 2 for the same price as its now clunky forerunner, starting at 499 dollars for the base model.

But it speaks volumes for the limits of the new gadget that the innovation that seems to have garnered the most attention is an ingeniously simple screen cover that doubles as a device stand. The Smart Cover, which starts at 36 dollars, connects to the iPad 2 via magnets. The device automatically shuts off when the cover is closed and turns itself on when it opens.

The big question is whether these incremental improvements will be enough to ward off Apple's growing legion of competitors at the same time as they entice many of the 15 million current iPad owners to trade in their less than one-year-old models for a shiny new device clad with a curved satin aluminium back.

Walt Mossberg, doyen of the US tech press, doesn't believe it will. Though he considers the iPad 2 the best tablet currently available, it does not have enough plusses to warrant an upgrade, unless you're desperate to video conference, he wrote.

"I don't think you would need to rush out and get this new one," he advised current iPad owners. "However, remember most people don't have any tablet so there's an enormous addressable market of people." There's little doubt that the device's tightly integrated hardware and software justify Mossberg's evaluation. But given the rapid development of rivals from companies like Motorola, Samsung and Toshiba, plus Google's relentless improvements to its Android operating system, it is virtually certain that the iPad 2 will be overtaken at some point in its life-cycle and probably well before Apple is ready to announce its successor next year.

Toshiba is already boasting that its upcoming tablet is more than a match for the new debutant, featuring better cameras, the ability to play flash video, a higher resolution screen, stereo speakers and a haptic feedback touch-screen keyboard. Like the iPad 2, the Toshiba tablet will also feature a dual core processor and will retail for roughly the same price, the company says.

That's more than can be said for the current challengers to the iPad. Motorola's Xoom also offers some features unavailable on the iPad, but is more expensive and is generally regarded as clunkier.

Dell's iPad rivals have also failed to set the market alight.

That's the fate that many would be iPad challengers can expect, according to JP Morgan Research analyst Mark Moskowitz. While manufacturers plan to build more than 80 million tablets in 2011 he figures 17 million will remain unsold -- and they won't be sporting the famous Apple logo.

"In our view, the technical and form factor improvements of the iPad 2 stand to make it tougher for the first generation of competitive offerings to play catch-up, meaning actual shipments could fall well short of plan," Moskowitz wrote in an investment report. "The competitive offerings appear to be light on attraction."