This is likely to change in the next generation though. Currently the sub-$500 tablets are pretty poor but cheap Tegra 3 devices are going to be good enough for a lot of people.
A lot of people are assuming things will play out the way they did in the 80s. Like Apple didn't learn anything. They realize developers, price, supply all those things matter. Which is why I don't believe 2012 will be anything like 1984.
What I hope and expect to happen is that in the next year or two we see real competition in the tablet market. Apple is likely to stay on top at least in the near future but I predict lower cost Android tablets are going to start to exert real pressure on them soon.
The best devices of the Honeycomb generation are pretty compelling, especially after getting an upgrade to ICS.