Computer manufacturer ASUS has set a local launch date for their new range of Eee Pads that is set to be powered by Google’s Android operating system.

The three Android tablets that will be available in South Africa, the Eee Pad Slider, Transformer, and MEMO, will all run on Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) that are designed specifically for tablet computers.

The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is set to be the first to arrive first on South African soil in June 2011 and will sport a 10.1″ touch screen, 1.2 Megapixle front-facing camera and 5MP back-facing camera.

The second Eee Pad set to arrive in South African is the ASUS Eee Pad Slider and is expected here in May 2011. The Eee Pad Slider is very similar to the Transformer, it also features a 10.1″ screen and 1.2 and 5MP cameras. The big difference is that is will have optional 3G and its display is set to receive In-plane switching (IPS) technology.

The last Eee Pad South Africans will see in 2011 is the smaller 7.1″ ASUS Eee Pad MeMO which has a mini HDMI output, dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm 8260 processor and dual cameras like the other models. It even comes with a stylus like in the good old smartphone days, which makes the MeMO a perfect blend of tablet and smartphone.

It’s clear that 2011 is the year of the tablet, specially the year of the Android tablet with Google set to release Android 3.0 Honeycomb soon that has been specifically designed for tablet computers. Whether Android tablets will trump over the Apple iPad we will have to wait and see, since Apple are also set to launch the iPad 2 this year.

It’s been two months since the release of the Apple iPad and Apple already sold 2 million units, but will Apple’s domination of the tablet market come to an end soon?

Netbook makers MSI and Asus seem to think so and are eager to take back their market by introducing an onslaught of tablet PC’s. One of these tablets introduced by MSI will runs on Android.

Asus unveiled two tablets and an E-Book reader. The EEE Pad Ep121 is a 12-inch tablet powered by a Intel Core2Duo processor and Windows 7, it will also boast a on-screen keyboard like the iPad but will also support external keyboards and will have an expected battery life of 10 hours for continuous use. Asus also unveiled the smaller EEE Pad EP101TC which features a 10-inch screen and that will run Windows CE as apposed to Windows 7. Not all specs have been revealed yet.

MSI is also getting in on the tablet action by introducing two new tables. The first being the WindPad 100, a 10-inch tablet that runs on Windows 7 and powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor. The WindPad 100 will have 2GB of ram and 32GB of SSD storage, USB and HDMI ports are also expected and a webcam. MSI also introduced the WindPad 110, an Android 2.1 powered tablet. The WindPad 110 also features a 10-inch capacitive touch screen and will be powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and will have USB and video out capabilities.

One thing that is for sure is that Netbook makes are not stepping down to let Apple take over the market previously belonging to them, and from what I can see it looks like the tablet market is heating up big time.