Many newsgroups are already defining 2010 as “the year of the tablet”, and whilst Apple’s fantastically covered iPad seemingly struggles to live up to the hype, there’s no shortage of competition in what’s sure to be a fiercely-contested form factor. After Steve Jobs announced the device, it’s hard not to associate the term ‘tablet’ with Apple’s iPad. But if anyone thinks Apple is going to own the market outright, they might have to think again. As tech newsgroups discuss, expect a deluge of tablet PCs to emerge this year and next to keep the newly flooded market competitive.

The iPad was announced yesterday which certainly challenged the veteran Kindle, the newer Barnes and Noble Nook and even the failing CrunchPad. With a 9.7″ screen and Apple’s familiar interface, the iPad admittedly seems like a big iPhone. But Apple boasts that this piece of hardware sports features such as Apple’s ARM A4 chip, the latest in wireless technology, upgradable 3G capability, a color screen, use of the full Apple app library, up to 64 GB of flash storage, and a claimed 10 hour runtime while running video or other media applications. But before you go running out to snag one; MSI has also announced that they plan to launch a new tablet PC in the second half of this year which will be based on NVIDIA’s Tegra platform. The device was first seen at CES earlier this month, sporting Google’s Android operating system. MSI have also confirmed that they will launch a number of different tablets running other platforms, including Windows 7. ‘

Also in the mix is the HP Slate. Full specifications of the slate haven’t been confirmed, but what is being shared on UseNet is that it too will run an NVIDIA Tegra chipset, presumably the second-gen model announced at CES 2010 earlier this month. That would give it 1080p HD support and extensive battery life, potentially far longer than the 10hrs runtime the iPad can muster. It can also multitask, is Flash-capable, and basically serves as a portable desktop, with the ability to run your standard desktop apps. Uncertainty increases when you factor in HP’s less-than-stellar performance with their Touch screen tablet PCs a few years back.

Expect to see this, and a wave of other tablets, coming out for at least the next 16 months. Meanwhile, the big question we wonder is whether UseNet newsgroups will be able to be accessed with these devices. If so, with what? The iPad has answered the question first so far, as it supposedly natively supports the AppStore applications – which include a couple of quite capable newsreaders. Additionally, MacMail also natively has a feature to subscribe to newsgroups which are built in to the iPad. How the Android inspired device or the Windows versions of these tablets will cover newsgroups subscriptions remain to be seen.