Strong indicators are pointing towards tablets as the future of mobile commerce. If this is to be the case, and if we are going to speak of today’s market, Apple is the winner, hands down. The supremacy of iPads within the tablet market lives on, even with beefed up challengers like Hewlett Packard’s TouchPad, Sony and Samsung Galaxy Tab. While iPad versions are shooting down opponents at the onset, a possible threat still looms in the name of Amazon. And the differentiator: price.

A Retrevo study offers compelling results that identify Amazon as a brand of choice for consumers, and could potentially be Android’s biggest hope against Apple’s iPad. A portion of the survey output says: “When the study asked consumers which manufacturer they would most likely buy a tablet from, we were surprised to see a high percentage of potential tablet buyers putting Amazon (55%) at the top of their list. We’re not positive that some respondents didn’t confuse Amazon the manufacturer (Kindle) and Amazon the reseller but in any case it looks likely that consumers prefer an Amazon branded tablet over ones from more established tablet manufacturers like Samsung and Motorola.”

Although public trust in the brand will immensely help in pushing sales for the Android-powered tablet, consumers’ answers lead enterprises to the “cheaper price” route—with 48% saying that low price is the most important feature they will seriously ponder in their next buy.  Almost 79% of the surveyed responded positively that they will be getting a tablet if it will cost $250 or below. While the majority (51%) still would prefer to purchase an iPad this year, 21% considers Android-powered tablets as alternatives. Furthermore, the Android OS continues to climb in dominance, bringing down iOS to a nearly 30% decline in tablet market share this year. Android features are also something that other businesses love. In fact, a Philadelphia newspaper plans on offering discounted Android tablets with pre-loaded content, in exchange of the data on how consumers interact.

Amazon is also one of the most successful alternative markets in the App store platform. This suggests that the growing public affinity for the brand, put together with the strong Android interface, could just be the tablet we’re all waiting for. With innovations rolling on both sides of the court, Amazon’s Q2 financial performance may also affect its stand within the PC globalization trend of 2011.