Answer: tablets

Such as Pandora. Pandora is aimed at gaming though. For me, not interesting. Its not something I use my NIT for. This is why I believe there isn't 'one real competitor'. The embedded market is vague and fractured, there are all kind of usages for a NIT. Therefore, interesting questions could be: what is the NIT's weakest spot or what is the NIT currently used for which other devices can do far better.

The point is though that a NIT can do so many things (flexible) that it might begood enough to use a NIT for several of those things instead of using or buying specific devices for the specific purpose. This is where the power of the NIT lies.

The current competitor of the NIT is Nokia. They can make the N900 able to increase its usage for its specific purposes. I believe the usability of the device is very important, and judging from the software updates for Maemo 5, there is going to be a huge leap forward. If Nokia adds good GPS and navigation software, PIM option, 24/7 connectivity via 3G I see the value of the flexibility of the NIT increasing.