The fortune tellers at Juniper Research have looked into their crystal ball and project that the number of annual shipments of tablet devices will reach 81 million by 2015.

The assumption is based on the fact that more consumer electronics and handset manufacturers will enter the market.

It claimed that Android is allowing both new and existing device manufacturers to enter the market and products have been launched already by companies such as Dell with the Streak, Maylong’s M150 and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab.

Anthony Cox, senior analyst at Juniper Research said that competition for Apple is likely to arrive in earnest in 2011.

Earnest may be a small town in Hicksville USA.  Cox thinks that by then Jobs’ and Co. will have launched another version of the iPad and will still be upping the bar.

Apple, as first to market with its compelling hardware and content combination, will maintain its market lead for the medium term, Cox said.

Products using QNX for Blackberry smartphones, Windows Phone 7 and MeeGo will come to market in 2011 and of course the netbook market will be pressured. However Juniper thinks that netbooks will remain resilient in the business market.

The big loser to the rise of Apple will be Nokia, which will be challenged by the increasing sophistication of Apple’s IOS and Google’s Android OS.

According to Cox’s report, handset manufacturers with the longest history in the market and a close association with a specific operating system face the greatest challenges. Apple’s IOS and the Android OS have affected RIM, Microsoft and Nokia the most, the report claimed.

Juniper thinks that the established smartphone outfits waited too long to challenge Apple.

Nevertheless, If MS partners bring a Windows 7 Tablet to market that one ups the iPad and it’s cheaper; they will make serious inroads in the Tablet space.  Consumers will buy and stick with what they like, Windows 7 is no joke.

Unfortunately, the company did not state how or why consumers would gravitate to Tablets or what the killer app for them will be.