Consumers and Investors Benefiting from Tablet Innovation

Whether it was a stroke of competitive genius or an actual belief, the world may never know. The truth remains that the comments by Steve Jobs in 2003 will live in technology infamy for years to come.

Speaking at a digital conference in 2003, Jobs was quoted: "There are no plans to make a tablet. It turns out people want keyboards. When Apple first started out, people couldn't type. We realized: Death would eventually take care of this."

Jobs put it bluntly: "We look at the tablet and we think itis going to fail. Tablets appeal to rich guys with plenty of other PCs and devices already."

Of course, that couldn't be farther from the truth now. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has announced sales of more than 28 million iPads to date, far outpacing any competitor in the field. Its strong success was established by early market penetration (go figure!), competitive pricing, and striking design features.

Undoubtedly, the company has profited enormously from the iPad. Apple's balance sheet holds more than $70 billion in cash and marketable securities, making it one of the most cash-heavy corporations in the world.

The windfalls of the tablet revolution haven't only benefited Apple's shareholders and 28 million+ customers. Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android software has entered the fray with similar success.

With total tablet sales up over 300% year-over-year, Android now holds 30% of the market. The software is open source, so the potential for market-changing applications is unlimited. Additionally, a slew of manufacturers have already taken competitive devices to market with the popular software.

Consumers in the market for a new tablet have more options every week. Manufacturers including Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), HP (NYSE: HPQ), HTC, and Acer have created tablets with various bells and whistles. The benefit of this early competition has been rapid innovation and numerous price points.

Over the next couple years, additional manufacturers will certainly enter the developing, yet lucrative, tablet market. Watch for consumers to benefit from new features and attractive pricing, with the shareholders of market-leading companies laughing all the way to the bank.