I see your point, but disagree about the 'matter of months' part; we were discussing the Apple tablet here last year, iPhones have been out for a few years (as have some other niche multitouch products), and the tablet + stylus concept has been on the market for a decade. So I had expected other players to offer up something even if it was only to stake a claim on behalf of their brands.
In other words, not to be compete or beat with apple technically in the short term, but to deny them marketing hegemony. Perhaps they'd rather wait for the initial iPad thunder to subside, than risk being tagged as 'a poor second best' in the first lap of the race. I suppose it depends on whether one feels engineering or brand positioning is the biggest determinant of long-term success.
In other words, not to be compete or beat with apple technically in the short term, but to deny them marketing hegemony. Perhaps they'd rather wait for the initial iPad thunder to subside, than risk being tagged as 'a poor second best' in the first lap of the race. I suppose it depends on whether one feels engineering or brand positioning is the biggest determinant of long-term success.