Tablets are everywhere. I recently visited the Steelcase headquarters in Michigan and saw staffers using iPads and several of my colleagues sporting the latest from Apple's product line.

Tablet computers have all but put NetBooks out of business. Let's face it, they're sexy and very popular. Seems like everyone wants one and one company rules the roost: Apple.

Competitors have come and gone and the latest casualty is the HP Touchpad, once thought to be a true opponent of the iPad. Will anyone compete with the company that now forges ahead without Steve Jobs?

Amazon.

They have the money, the brand recognition and devoted fanbase that loves to read. They may also do what no other company has: provide a tablet at a cost much lower than the iPad.

Here's why I think it will succeed: the tasks that most people use on their tablets are agnostic. Email, Twitter, Facebook, web browsing. Each of these is not specific to one tablet OS or platform. Sure, I like to use Twitter on my iPad but I'd be more than glad to try it out on a $250 Amazon tablet.

Which is exactly why Apple may be worried.

Would you use an Amazong tablet if priced much lower than the iPad?