The war has not started yet, but the armies are gathering their forces.  Apple is building a tablet based off the iphone OS and the rest of the world will be using Android. So how what will the first skirmish look like?

Based on the last known rumors, we have a coming Apple tablet that will basically be an oversized iPhone with more horsepower and memory. 10″ is the last I heard.

Now, on the other side. Check this out from Gizmodo.

“Remember that iPhone-like Android MID that everyone went crazy about yesterday? It looks like someone may have tracked it down. Manufactured by SMiT, the device is called the MID-560. And it’s got decent specs.

That’s a 5-inch touchscreen with an impressive 800 x 480 resolution. And internally, an 533/667MHZ ARM 11-based Samsung 6410 chip should run the device as quickly as any smartphone with codec support including AAC, OGG, DivX, XviD, and H.264.  Storage stays light by maxing at 8GB, but a miniSD card slot offers lots of expansion. Wi-Fi and GPS are standard.”

S0, lets say someone builds a 10″ Android tablet and we have the beginnings of our first battle!

With Apples current price point of under $700, a super strong following and an app store on steroids, the Apple Tablet will grab most of the market share… At first.   When the Android tablet comes out, it will not be ‘A’ tablet, there will be many of them, varying in size and capability. Some will have lots of RAM, ports and perhaps 4G; others will focus on trying to get under the $400 mark by creating a device that only does the basics.  So in the first days of the war I will guess Apple will catch most of the market, but as more and more Android devices and apps come online, there will be a shift to detente as each discovers its market nitch.

{update, seems the rumor is Apple will have 2 versions; 6″and 10″ and the 6′ is under $700.  If that is true, the war is already over. IF, and I say if, the 6″ is <$700, then the 10″ will be <$1000 and that is a FAIL. But again, rumor control}

However, this will not last long as first offensive maneuver will be the tablet that fully supports VNC and physical keyboard/mouse combo’s either through wire, bluetooth or some other method. A second assault will be the device that can support pen (non dedicated) and handwriting conversion.  Where the battle will go from there?  Anyone’s guess.

If I had to choose a side, I think I would go with Android in the long run. However, like any war, the battle you thought you were going to fight will change at first engagement.  Unless Apple is under $400.  My thoughts on that here.