Tablets vs. Netbooks. Forrester released a report that said by 2012 Tablets would outsell Netbooks

I think the iPad is great for students, little kids and mall going teenagers. On a professional scale, I don't see anything useful about a giant iphone/ipod touch. Tablets have their place in IT, and right now it is a niche market. Laptops are increasingly more powerful and versatile and are beginning to take the place of the normal desktop, however their TCO on repairs and maintenance are still much to be desired. Laptops with fold around screens to turn them into Tablets have the best of all worlds. Versitility, Power, and the ability to become a tablet on the fy. Thats your winner my friends.

Again, it will depend on what the tablet offers. Right now they aim for entertainment, to the mass public. It may be sophisticated tablets with a focus on business may come along (operating systems and enterprise network connectivity), and then that will probably replace the mobile office.

Still, it will also depend on the other side of the spectrum, where smartphones are really getting more powerful, and thus the tablet may seem something like Gregory's picture: a Giant iPhone.

Note that NetBooks were actually designed to be an internet device for not so power consuming tasks, aka entertainment. At that niche, the tablet may very well outrun the netbooks. But the netbook started to be used more in mobile office, for business, and as we saw tablet may not enter there. Actually, netbook may enter the tablet space if adding a touch and flip screen (as Gregory also mentions) which bring the best of both words.

So, in summary, I think business will stay a little longer with netbooks, tablets may face an enemy in smartphones, and netbooks will evolve into nettablets. But do not trust much in my guessing, as I've lost all bets on the Soccer World Cup. Oh, well.

Tablets continue to be adopted by users with specific requirements and sometimes personal preferences depending on usability and how they like to work. Netbooks provide more traditional style features that currently exist in the business world (i.e. keyboard). Both provide the same “on the go” portability, however if long emails or documents are required, the netbook is the device of choice outside of a full laptop. Again it all comes down to the business needs of the individual.

SmartPhones as we have all seen changed the way people work and communicate. In fact with the enhanced functionality and applications available from these devices, lugging a laptop everywhere is becoming a thing of the past.

Tablets will also dramatically change the mobile workforce users in their use of laptops, however it will all come down to how the business world will embrace these devices or will they stay mostly in the consumer market for entertainment and quick communications.

The challenge of tablets making it squarely into the business world is a function of device and data security merged with application compatibility. I've been working with a financial services firm in evaluating iPads for their field sales force and these are the issues they are trying to answer inline with their current internal and external requirements.

Obviously a financial services firm has significantly different security parameters than most businesses, but the place to really begin the evaluation is at this issue. What are your requirements? Can they be met? Can the applications available provide the functionality necessary without requiring a 'dual spend' on laptops and tablets?

Sadly, there isn't one right answer as each company is different.

This being said, it is unquestionable that they will begin to proliferate in the enterprise. The question is how deeply they will go before the open larger issues that can't be solved (today).

I believe that tablets will outsell laptops - eventually.

I love my iPad. With it I can access most functions I need for my job - that's handy if I'm on-call and will be an hour or so away from home.

Unfortunately the lack of a usb port for saving certain data, and the screen resolution when remotely viewing workstations or servers, makes it a bit easier to carry my laptop when I'm going to be away for a longer period of time.

As tablets start to become more of a norm on the market I think we'll see better features, better speed, etc. Once that happens the world is our oyster - so to speak - and the days of bulky laptops (my workhorse is 7lbs and has a 15.5 inch screen) are over.