I agree that there are no carriers involved which makes it different. However, there are still elements similar to the smartphone that exist.

One is form factor. There will be Android tablets with different sizes, with dual screen, with slide-out keyboard. This would widen its appeal which would translate to more sales.

Another is price. Like with the phones, there will be several manufacturers building Android tablets. With the competition, prices will much more attractive compared to the IPad.

Also, this would be fully integrated with Google services. This is the main reason why I picked an Android phone in the first place because I use Gmail, Google Calendar, etc. The IPad cannot give the same integrated experience.

On a sidenote, I actually wonder how brand affiliation would impact tablet sales.

I have an Android phone which is why I picked an Android tablet. If this is true for most people, Android tablets will sell really well since Android's market share is now bigger than the IPhone's.

There were people who didn't buy iPhone even when it was available on their carrier. The world is big. The potential of the tablet market is pretty huge. Android tablets don't have to steal from iPad, because there are already a lot of Androi fans out there where an Android tablet is a default choice for them, though some may think twice about it and choose an iPad anyway, but the point is iPad won't be their first choice.