Tablets dominated the device announcements on the opening day of the Mobile World Congress, with seven products announced compared to four smartphones.

 

The statistics are good news for Google, with its Android platform powering five of the seven tablets and all of the smartphones, however the figures represent a shift for the firm, with soaring success to date fuelled mostly by the latter device.

 

South Korean vendor Samsung got the ball rolling announcing the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will ship in Europe via Vodafone this spring, however domestic rival LG Electronics quickly squared up with details of its 8.9-inch Optimus Pad which will feature a 3D screen.

 

ZTE unveiled a 10-inch version of its Light tablet due in 3Q, and the Light 2, which it states is the first tablet fitted with a Pixel Oi display that can be read in direct sunlight.

 

Motorola Mobility fanned the Google flames by revealing it will launch its Xoom tablet in Europe in 2Q, with a host of combinations of Wi-Fi and 3G technologies.

 

Vendor’s focus on tablets seems well placed with 17.1 million units sold in 2010, and Cisco predictions that tablet sales will soar 205 times by 2015.