Technologically speaking, we live in a copycat world. If a company has even a small amount of commercial success with a new device, you can be sure its competitors will follow suit and ride the wave of momentum.
And over the past few weeks, it's been a wave of iPad news soaking into almost every blog and media outlet.
But now that it's been a week since Apple's tablet has launched and the waters have settled slightly, it seems like the tide may start to turn in this budding tablet market over the coming months.
That's because there's a steady stream of new tablet releases expected to launch in the next year, and each one is looking to offer its own unique spin on the tablet device (The HP Slate with its 2 cameras and USB ports or the Microsoft Courier, which has 2 screens and folds in half).
The list of companies that have tablets in the works is long one, including Dell, Acer, Lenovo, Nokia, Asus, Compal, Notion Ink, MSI, Quanta and ICD.
The latest news is that Google is testing the tablet waters as well and confirmed it's partnering with HTC to develop an Android-based tablet device, but hasn't even released so much as name yet.
Regardless, what is abundantly clear is that companies across the board obviously feel that the tablet market is a strong one with a lot of potential, and that should lead to more innovation and design.
And whether you love the iPad or hate it, it's hard to argue that it hasn't opened the floodgates for more and more tablets in the future.