It's a Tab, Tab, Tab, Tab World

Amazon has new Kindle tablets on tap (see left)...Samsung recently launched its Galaxy tablets (which may be affected by the Apple-Samsung intellectual property battle)...Lenovo has its own tablet...and more tablet computers are on the way, especially with the imminent launch of Windows 8.

The prototypical tablet is, of course, Apple's iPad. Rumors suggest that an iPad mini is coming soon, just at the time when many competitors think that larger screen size is the way to out-tablet the iPad. The tablet revolution is truly worldwide: In Nigeria, startup Encipher is offering its affordable Inye tablet as an iPad alternative, for example.

Gartner Group projects that 119 million tablets will be sold this year, double the number sold globally last year. Where will PCs, laptops, netbooks and other computer-type devices fit in this tab, tab, tab, tab world?