Does Panasonic’s Toughpad Point The Way To A Better iPad?

TGDaily’s Rob Enderle says it’s clear why Apple’s iPad is the most successful device in the lucrative new tablet category: Cupertino simply does the best job of any vendor in terms of providing an end-to-end solution, while most Android-based products are incomplete at best, typically hampered by incomplete back-end services tossed by Google to hapless vendors.

However, he maintains that the Panasonic Toughpad – which is designed for industrial use – comes closer than most consumer based products, other than Apple, to an end-to-end solution, plus the Toughpad maintains several distinct advantages over the iPad with its outdoor viewable screen, a digitizer, a replacable battery and hardening for outside/hostile environment use – pointing the way to a better consumer product.

Not to mention the Toughpad’s superior connectivity, with Micro-USB, microSDHC, and micro HDMI ports. I’ve long wished somewhat wistfully that Apple would enter the ruggedized laptop arena, and a ruggedized and workhorse-grade connectable iPad would make even more sense.