Dell is to enter into the tablet market in 2012, with plans to launch a device towards the end of the year. As it stands only the big players currently survive Apple's dominance over tablets with its iPad 2.

The likes of HP have had to admit defeat in the face of a market that is extremely competitive, so Dell's entry could be extremely risky. Dell is going to need to avoid making the same mistakes it made with the Streak if it plans on holding any ground against competitors Samsung and Motorola, as well as Apple.

It remains to be seen if the tablet will be running on Android, but it is extremely likely given the readily available functionality of Google's OS. Then again it is entirely possible, given Dell's history with personal computing, that the tablet will instead be running Windows 8.

Dell says it has been careful to bide its time in launching a tablet, so as not to end up doing so around Apple, a move which it believes has led other companies to fail. 

Chief commercial officer Steve Felice told Reuters that "You will see us enter this market in a bigger way toward the end of the year. So we are not really de-emphasizing it, we are really being very careful how we enter it."

"We like Windows 8 but we continue to develop with Android as well. We are still going to be more choice-driven, based on the feedback we get from customers."

Let's not forget at last year's CES Dell teased the Streak 10, or even the Streak Pro, could this make a return? 

What do you think to a Dell tablet? Let us know in the comments below...