Every year seems to bring us new and exciting techie gadgets. Some we knew right away that we wanted and some that grew on us over time (and some that mercifully died away). One device, though, has periodically made an appearance in one incarnation or another, yet neither dies nor hits it big – the tablet PC.

This year, though, might be different. Both Apple and Google appear ready to announce later this month their tablet PC offerings. Given that both Apple and Google are on hot streaks, it’s likely that one or both of their products will be successful. Moreover, although Microsoft has been noticeably quiet these last couple of months, there was a leaked report at the end of the summer that they also had a new tablet in the works.

From a consumer’s perspective, I’m pretty excited to see what the new generation of tablets look like. But from a marketer’s perspective, I’m also interested in studying what might or might not have made this next generation of the device succeed where previous ones had failed. There will probably be some good lessons here for those of us looking to introduce new, cutting edge products in the future.

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