The HP TouchPad, one of this year's crop of new tablets. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

With the iPad 2 finally available, do other tablets stand a chance?

Last week, Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps made the assertion that although this year’s non-Apple tablet offerings are “solid products,” they have “fatally flawed product strategies.”

The post called out iPad 2 contenders like the BlackBerry PlayBook and HP TouchPad, as well as Android Honeycomb tablets by manufacturers such as Toshiba and Motorola. Such tablets, Epps claims, won’t be able to compete with the low price point and in-store experience that Apple can provide, leading to Forrester’s prediction that Apple will score upwards of 80 percent of the U.S. tablet market in 2011.

Will that actually happen?

Motorola CFO Francis Shammo said that “the XOOM pad is selling extremely well” at the Deutsche Bank Media and Telecom Conference on Tuesday. Samsung’s original 7-inch Galaxy Tab had good reception, selling over a million units. But the iPad reached three times that number in only 80 days, and early reports suggest the iPad 2 may have sold over 500,000 in its first weekend.

So if tech giants like Samsung and Motorola can’t compete with Apple’s tablet, is there anybody that can? Epps points to Amazon as a possible underdog.

According to Forrester’s data, consumers would rather purchase a tablet from a retailer like Amazon than a carrier like Motorola (24 percent versus 18 percent). Amazon has the incentive — and ability — to develop a product that would rival the iPad. Apple’s updated subscription policy has garnered the ire of publishers and app makers alike (Amazon and its Kindle app not excluded). And Amazon’s hardware chops have already been proven with the success of its Kindle e-reader.

Microsoft, Vizio and Sony also have the resources to become major players in the tablet arena.

In the meantime, tablets that target niche markets like business folks, gamers and kids could be manufacturers’ best way to slowly chip away at Apple’s dominance. Steve Jobs already branded the iPad 2 as a device for creation.

It’s up to the tablet makers and marketers to show that their solid products can shine. Their product strategies may be flawed, but they’re not fatal … yet.

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Why iPad 2 Won’t Have Much Competition [Forrester via Forbes]