High levels of consideration for competitor tablets suggest Apple won’t have it all their own way in 2011 but they’ll be thankful for the competition in the long run.

A recent article in The Guardian [1] posited that one of the best things that could happen to Apple to ensure continued success of the iPad was for competitors to launch tablet computers, and for these products to enjoy moderate levels of success. As happened with the iPod many moons ago, the thinking here is that a batch of serious rival devices would help cement tablets as a ‘legitimate’ category in consumers’ minds, encouraging continued sales and crucially allowing Apple to progressively refine and release further iterations of their hardware. (Although the impressive sales of the iPad so far would suggest this won’t be an issue.)

Smartphone operating systems (OS) have become arguably ‘the’ most critical factor in the mobile device market in recent times. Whilst obviously being crucial to the functional capabilities of a mobile device, they are now also seen as the cornerstone of its revenue potential. This has brought about a fascinating battle amongst the biggest names in the mobile and Internet markets, all looking to ensure their OS is the market leader. The result of this battle is likely to have a significant influence on who will dominate these markets during the next few years.

Phones with advanced operating systems now account for approximately 70% of the contract market in the UK*. This has led to a significant market share decline for Symbian, which has for some time been the most prevalent OS in the market, and increased competition amongst the four key operating systems at the higher end of the market – RIM’s BlackBerry OS, Apple’s iOS, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, and the newest OS to the market, Google’s Android.

In the PC market, Microsoft’s Windows OS is as common as the mobile phone in your pocket. However, Windows Mobile has struggled to capture the imagination of both consumers and businesses. In fact, with a rapidly declining 5% [1] of the global smartphone market it’s fair to say that relatively speaking Windows Mobile has been a horrible failure. But that’s all about to change.

Recent research by GfK NOP [2] shows that interest in Windows Phone 7 (the catchy name given to the successor of Windows Mobile 6.5) is strong. Almost one in five (18%) of UK mobile phone owners say they would consider a Windows Phone 7 (let’s go with WP7 from here on in) handset (available on HTC and Samsung devices among others) when they next come to renew, upgrade or buy their next mobile phone. Of course current smartphone owners display much higher levels of interest (32%). What’s more, Microsoft will be pleased to hear that of all smartphone owners, those using Google’s Android will be most interested (41%) in WP7. So what’s changed?