[el_chapitan]

The supporters of history rarely get the credit for the work they put in. It is the person who was there when the final blow was struck that gets most of the credit.

Apple shouldn't get all the credit for creating tablet computers. They should get credit for creating the first tablet that most people actually wanted to buy. If you want to ignore the influence of the iPad on the current market and overall design of the tablets we're going to see, you're being painfully myopic.

[Tichy]

I think coming tablets can piggyback on the Apple hype machine that created the demand. As for the design, I am not so sure: they are tablets. The design is basically inbuilt in the name (very likely flat rectangles).