This Forrester report calls it “tablet mania;”the current rush of technology innovators that are developing the next great “pad.” With Apple reporting over 3.27 million iPads sold in a single quarter, it’s no wonder that folks like HP, Toshiba, and Samsung are racing to get a slice of the pie.

Notably, many of the products that have been developed so far are labeled as some sort of “pad.” This is because brand awareness for the iPad is through the roof and climbing. In May, 83% of the respondents to the Forrester survey said that they’d heard of the iPad and that number jumped to 95% in June. Conversely, 25% of consumers said that they’d never heard of Amazon’s Kindle which has been around for over three years. Forrester attributes this market dominance to Apple’s strong social positioning.

So say you’re HP, Toshiba, or Samsung. How do you compete against the extraordinary brand dominance established early (or at least perceived to be held) by Apple? What questions do you need to ask a sample population of potential customers in order to help your customer overcome this challenge? As always, we want to hear your comments, suggestions and stories below.