In January 2010, Apple announced the iPad and we asked whether it could repeat its magic, its ability to disrupt a market; instead, it seemed to define one, and more than 10 million tablets later, it has a sizable lead over competitors who are, for the most part, still just talking about the tablets they will ship in 2011. The question is no longer whether Apple can Threepeat (the question we originally asked when the iPad launched), but whether anyone -- or all of them collectively -- can unseat Apple from its throne.

Live Blog: Apple Announces iPad2
Fritz Nelson

For almost one year, Apple has owned the tablet market. In fact, it's had the market almost entirely to itself. That began changing at the end of last year, with a constant stream of announcements and product launches from Cisco, Research In Motion, Samsung, and more, leading to an absolute avalanche of new products announced and demonstrated at CES this January. And those products have been, at least on a feature basis, easily superior to the original iPad. Just as some of those products have started to ship, Apple comes along with its long-expected iPad version 2. Observers expect Apple to merely match features, and leverage the enormous volume advantage of its app store; but would Apple merely strive for parity?

Apple iPad2 Slideshow

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