Apple’s iPad will continue to reign the swelling tablet market this year even though it already has several competitors from various computer and mobile-device companies, according to a report released by research firm Gartner.

Gartner said iPad, which is synonymous to the term “tablet,” sets the standards for what the device really is, thus, leaving a small room for alternatives.

The firm expects 70 million tablets to be sold within this year and about 108 million in 2012. The expected number is way beyond the 17.6 million tablet sales in 2011.

Google trails behind Apple in the second position. The firm said Google’s Android operating system is still insufficient to match up with Apple.

However, Gartner said Google’s shares will rise to 39 percent in 2015 from 20 percent this year while Apple’s shares will gradually drop to 47 percent from 69 percent.

Research in Motion’s Playbook tablet, which uses the new QNX platform, gets the third spot in the market this year with a 5.6 percent market shares, which Gartner believes will rise to 10 percent in 2015.

The firm said time and remarkable effort is required for RIM to obtain more customers and developers that will deliver a more innovative group of services and applications around QNX. Carolina Milanesi, Gartner analyst said this method will make a feasible alternative to Android or Apple.

Milanesi said organizations that will be interested in RIM’s new QNX-run tablet will consist of those who have RIM’s infrastructurre or those who have strict security requirements.

The Hewlett-Packard Co revealed its first and newest product for the rapid-growing tablet market. The HP slate tablet is a device that runs on Windows 7 software intended for business-minded customers.

The HP Slate 500 tries to reproduce the PC feel and experience in a tablet form, thus creating a distinction between rivals who have released devices with a smartphone feel. The device is running on Microsoft Windows 7, which is the same version used by most companies for their standard personal computers.

The slate is sold at a starting price of $799, which is higher than other competing devices such as Apple’s iPad that started the tablet craze when it was released earlier this year.

HP offers a slate tablet with 8.9-inch, multi-touch enabled screen. It weights 1.5 pounds, a digital stylus pen and 64 gigabytes storage. Its battery can last up to five hours.

The slate is installed with Wi-Fi access; however, it has no built-in 3G internet access unlike other similar devices such as iPad, Galaxy Tab and Samsung Electronics.

The director of business notebook marketing at HP, Carol Hess-Nickels, gave importance to the tablet’s usefulness when it comes to business activities and applications. The device can benefit retail, insurance and healthcare companies the most among other entrepreneurs.

The HP Slate comes with Intel Atom processor, unlike other rival tablets that runs on low-power ARM-based chips found in smart handy phones.

The device has a front and back camera that allows video conferencing, as well as a USB port. It also consists of a case and docking station. The Slate is now available for sale online.

Hewlett-Packard Co, the world’s largest PC maker, is also planning to release a tablet that may look different from the Slate next year.