How Motorola, Dell, Amazon and Others Can Crack the iPad Market

To say that the tablet market favors�Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and its iPad is an understatement.

Here’s the breakdown: Based on analyst estimates, Motorola (NYSE: MMI) has sold between 25,000 to 120,000 of its Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android-powered Xoom tablet PCs since the debut in February. Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) sold around 250,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablet PCs in one month, but Wedbush Securities analyst Scott Sutherland is predicting that the company will sell just 450,000 by the end of the second quarter, 50,000 fewer than previously expected.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), meanwhile, sold 4.5 million iPads in the first quarter of 2011 … and that’s after experiencing supply problems.

What’s the deal? It can’t be the Google software hurting the Xoom, considering the popularity of Motorola’s Android-powered phones. The same could be said of the PlayBook. The BlackBerry has lost ground to Google and the Apple iPhone, but it’s still a potent brand with businesses.

The answer is simple: For the general public, the iPad isn’t a tablet PC. It is its own entity. Much in the way that an iPod was distinct from other MP3 players last decade, so too is Apple’s new hit.

So how can other stocks like Motorola, RIMM, as well as traditional PC manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard (NASDAQ: HPQ) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) finally crack Apple’s grip? Here’s how:

Price

Samsung, Motorola, and RIMM have all made the same crucial error in bringing their tablets early to the market to try and steal dollars from Apple: None of them beat Apple on price. Acer, the #3 PC manufacturer in the world, is taking this strategy with its new Iconia tablet. Released at the end of April at $449, Acer’s Android-powered tablet undercuts the lowest-end current iPad by $50. Acer is planning to deliver a model compatible with AT&T‘s (NYSE: T)new 4G network this summer, so it won’t be clear until the last quarter of the year whether price really is the secret to beating the iPad.

Business

The Wall Street Journal reported in February that even though Apple’s focus with the iPad has been consumers, 65% of Fortune 100 companies have either started using the tablet or are actively looking into equipping its employees with the device. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t a serious opportunity to capture the business market with a tablet, especially when coupled with other business services. RIMM may have asked for too much in closely pairing the PlayBook with BlackBerry phones and business services to make headway against Apple. Given the strength of Dell’s business services though, that company might be able to serve an audience with its Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows tablet, the Latitude, in ways the iPad doesn’t.

Television

Analysts have been predicting an Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) tablet since the iPad was announced. This was because Amazon’s Kindle was giving the web retailer a reputation as a serious player in consumer electronics. According to Boy Genius Report, Amazon is taking a two-fold approach to the market with a cheap tablet codenamed “Coyote” and a high-end processing powerhouse codenamed “Hollywood.” Hollywood’s processor would be about 500 times more powerful than the one in Motorola’s Xoom. What will Amazon do with all that power? Make what Computerworld‘s Mark Elgan describes as a “Kindle for movies.” The device would be positioned in the market as an all-in-one television and movie library, with a rental library bigger than Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) but with prices cheaper than those in Apple’s iTunes store. This could potentially be a hit, especially if purchasing an Amazon tablet gave customers access to the same content on TVs and their home PCs. If the price of Hollywood is too high though, Amazon will have a tough time finding its audience.

As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at�@ajohnagnello and�become a fan of�InvestorPlace on Facebook.