Gartner, in their latest analysis, have stated that they believe the Android tablet challenge [to Apple's iPad] to be faltering, and go on to set out the reasons they believe that to be the case.

My own view is that Gartner are pretty much bang on, given my own experience of the two technologies side by side - an iPad 2 and an Asus Eee Pad Transformer (Honeycomb, Android 3.2).

Gartner has lowered its forecast for shipments of Android-based tablets by 28 percent from last quarter’s projection, due to “high prices, weak user interface and limited tablet applications.” It notes that the reduction would have been greater had it not been for the success of lower-end tablets in Asia, and the expectations around the launch of Amazon's new Android-based tablet.

You can read the full article on Mobile World Live here: http://bit.ly/pdODyR
Certainly, the Honeycomb UI leaves quite a bit to be desired in places. Fundamental weaknesses exist, and the web browsing interaction experience is dreadful with keyboard lag apparent and very odd behaviours when editing text in web text boxes for forums and the like. I have seen this across the Xoom, Samsung, Asus and HTC tablets and so must take this to be to do with Honeycomb itself rather than the hardware.

Virtually all discussion about price differentials is moot when considering like-for-like, that is Samsung, HTC, Motorola, even Asus vs Apple. It is either corporate greed or unmovable component prices that have seen Android tablets be at or above iPhone prices.

In the meantime, the tablet market remains dominated by Apple’s iPad. “We expect Apple to maintain a market share lead throughout our forecast period by commanding more than 50 percent of the market until 2014,” said Milanesi. “This is because Apple delivers a superior and unified user experience across its hardware, software and services. Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple’s position will be minimal.”
Every single week that passes further entrenches Apple's iPad in the psyche of not only users but also enterprise. Having used my iPad on the enterprise network, and finding that there isn't even a version of Cisco Anyconnect (VPN) for unrooted Android, I am convinced that Android poses no threat to the iOS devices in the enterprise space.

As the lead grows it makes for a much more difficult market for Android to address. It certainly needs to be able to compete much more aggressively if it is to repeat the very successful balance redress in the smartphone space. But I am not convinced, yet, that there is anything Android to do so - and I cannot even contemplate the sub-£200 kit that abounds in the bargain basement stores, fashion chains (ie. Next) or eBay running Android 2.2 (Froyo). None of these are likely to pick up Ice Cream Sandwich when it arrives.

The iPad is projected to account for 73.4 percent of global tablet sales in 2011, down from 83 percent share in 2010. Beyond Apple and Android, Gartner does not expect any other platforms to have more than 5 percent share of the tablet market in 2011.
Whatever happens with Ice Cream Sandwich in 4Q/2011 and indeed the rest of 2012 will define how Android progresses against iOS in the tablet space. Certainly, Google and the Android manufacturers cannot afford to give away another 12 months to Apple.