It is fairly clear that none of the tablets that would like to compete with Apple’s iPad are really doing anything like that yet, and there is some expert opinion that the situation will not markedly change in 2011.

According to JPMorgan analyst Mark Moskowitz, the Apple share of the tablet marketplace is going to wind up at about 83.3 percent when 2010 is over. That is pretty much like not having any competition at all. Furthermore, Moskowitz is predicting (and he is not alone) that Apple will still have almost 62 percent of the tablet marketplace, which they after all single-handedly invented, when 2011 comes to an end. That would be like Chrysler inventing some new kind of car and selling 75 percent of that type of car for the first two years. It is pretty much unheard of.

Gong further out on a limb, Moskowitz and his crystal ball say that the iPad will still own the lion’s share of the market in 2012, with about 45 percent. numbers courtesy of Electronista. Although this situation may be virtually unprecedented, it is not hard to explain. Apple re-thought an older concept, revitalized it with design and innovation, and decided to bring out something entirely new. Apple then refused to say much about their new product, while the tech press had a field day with rumors. This tactic froze their likely competition in place. That competition was neither able to clone the iPad without more knowledge, nor were they evidently willing to gamble on innovation of their own.

So far, then, we just have more of the same from anyone who can license Android, which is itself a clone of iOS4, rushed out by Google to try to combat the iPhone. None of the gaggle of Google-driven tablets are having any impact at all in the marketplace, whether they are any good or not, because the vast majority of the prospective tablet buyers clearly see that they can have the real deal for not much more than the price of a clone. If the iPad has 83 percent of the tablet market at this point, it is pretty clear that the other 17 percent is held by the rabid anti-Apple fringe. When you’re hot, you’re hot. When you’re not, you’re not.