The iPad might not yet be officially available in Malaysia yet but they’re all over the place. I’ve met so many chief executives who have got themselves one. But you can also see many ordinary folks using them in Starbucks and other hangout joints in the city.

NONE If you’re willing to pay a premium just go to Low Yat or Mid Valley Megamall to purchase a “grey import” version. These are not pirated versions from China or anything like that. They are real iPads brought in from overseas by enterprising dealers.

The  only drawback of buying a “grey import” iPad, besides the high price, is that there’s no warranty since it’s not officially brought in by Apple. Others buy it during their overseas trips to say, Singapore, for example. Or they get friends or friends or friends to bring back an iPad from say, the US or Australia.

Whether the lengths people are willing to go to get an iPad even before it’s officially launched in Malaysia shows the huge demand for Tablets is debatable. It could be that people are just into cool Apple gadgets!

Nevertheless, the tech industry is going gaga over Tablets and a slew of them are entering the market in the US in the coming months and year.

First serious rival

The one creating the most buzz right now is the Samsung Galaxy Tab which runs on Google’s Android operating system. In a nutshell, it is the first serious rival to the iPad although it’s considerably smaller with a seven-inch screen (the iPad is nearly 10 inches).

iPad Samsung-Galaxy-Tab Because screen sizes are usually described using diagonal measurements the actual screen size difference between the Galaxy Tab and the iPad is a lot more than the inch differentials suggest. (The screen size of the Tab is actually less than half of that of the iPad).

Does size matter? When it comes to Tablets, absolutely. I’ve read somewhere that the Galaxy Tab is more like an oversized phone than a Tablet. It can actually fit the back pocket of your jeans! So, you’ve really got to ask yourself what you want to use your Tablet for.

Is it to play games? Then perhaps a smaller Tablet is okay. People are used to playing games on small, handheld devices. But if it’s to read e-books and e-magazines, a smaller screen is not desirable. Similarly if it’s to view videos, a smallish screen is really not ideal.

And don’t even get me started about using your Tablet for work. I find it hard to do so even on the iPad which has a considerably larger screen. Tablets are media or content consumption devices. Period.

The Galaxy Tab, like the many other Tablets that will soon enter the market, has many things that the iPad doesn’t have though. There are two cameras (for shooting pictures and for conferencing); support for Adobe Flash, SD memory card slot and multitasking capabilities (though this is coming to Apple through an operating system upgrade, soon).

One thing worth noting is that the iPad has considerable more apps specifically designed for it than for any Android Tablet. There are some 40,000 apps in the Apple App Store that were designed specifically for the iPad. In contrast, Android Tablet users have to mainly be contented with using Android phone apps with their Tablets.

PlayBook to be out next year

The other notable Tablet is the BlackBerry PlayBook which will be iPad Dell Streak launched in the US early next year. Despite its name and its size (also seven inches), it’s actually designed to be more of a work device than a play device. It can be tethered to BlackBerry phones and used interchangeably with them.

If you really prefer a small-sized device though, the Android-based Dell Streak may be ideal for you. At five inches, it’s really the iPad Blackberry PlayBook smallest Tablet around. I can’t see any use for such a small device though.

I’ve mentioned just the prominent ones. There are many more to come and soon enough every major computer brand will have its own Tablets. I’ve even seen someone with a no-brand Tablet from China!

Will Tablets become a hit in 2011 and beyond? Just because the iPad is a hit doesn’t necessarily mean other brands will have success with it. Take the iPod for instance. It revolutionised the music industry and ushered in the era of digital music players. But if you have such a player, it’s very likely to be an iPod rather than some other make.

I think the same could very well happen with Tablets. Yes, Tablets will become more commonplace next year and beyond but more likely than not, it will be dominated by iPads.

OON YEOH's new social media book ‘Like Me, Follow Me’ is published by MPH. You can connect with him via Facebook and Twitter .