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Possibly the most exciting revelation RCR has discovered about this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is that both triple and quad core tablet devices will be on display.

Talking to various sources close to chipmakers in the industry, RCR has discovered that the relatively new thrills of dual core processing are about to become very old-school indeed, with the emergence of new blisteringly fast quad core mobile devices.

Needless to say, the quad core processors will be ARM based rather than Intel Corp., with one analyst telling us “Intel is still struggling to get one core down to acceptable power levels.”

“This is the year of competition and the processor guys are going to be going at each other like never before,” another source told us, advising us to keep our eyes on little chip shops like Marvell Technology Group Ltd.

Just because tablet makers are going to start ramping up the cores doesn’t mean we’re getting any closer to omnipotent tablets, however, and indeed, according to analysts, consumers may not even want tablets that can do everything.

“The all-in-one device is a fallacy,” Jim McGregor of Instat told RCR recently. “Consumers want more than one device and the trend is towards more devices rather than fewer.”

For instance, says McGregor, tablets still don’t do e-reading very well, and LCD screens are just not good for outdoor sunlight, causing strain to the eyes. The E-Ink model works a lot better for those simply interested in catching up on their novels or favorite magazines, and with new flexible plastic displays coming very soon indeed, it all really boils down to price-point.

“The industry is going to start segmenting,” McGregor noted saying OEMs were going to be shifting from the all-powerful tablet model to a much more segmented strategy, with different devices to focus on different user needs like productivity, entertainment, communication, gaming, e-reading etc.

“We’re going to be moving from function specific devices to usage specific devices,” McGregor explained.

Most predictions about the success and failure of certain tablets still forget the importance of price points and 2011 may be the year to correct that.

“There is a price point for netbooks, for tablets, for phones, for e-readers, it’s just a question of getting it right,” McGregor said. For instance, if tablets were to suddenly drop to the $299 price point without a contract, that might be a problem for netbooks, but on the other hand, seeing as netbooks are more of a productivity device, it may only have limited effect.

One thing is certain, however, tablets are still at price points too high for most consumers to consider as an impulse buy, and that will be a limiting factor to their success.

McGregor also doesn’t believe the tablets to be unveiled at CES will be segmented enough to appeal to different audiences of users with different usage preferences.

“Everyone is initially going to be packing everything they can into these devices. They’re all going to look the same. Companies have been looking at the iPad, seeing what it didn’t have and cramming all of that into their device, but it’s just not original.”

“While there may well be 70 to 100 new tablet SKUs unveiled at CES, less than 20 of those will be actual tablet ‘designs,’” he added.

McGregor also predicts that this CES will push “4G” ad nauseum, mainly because the tagline is a hook for consumers and offers a clear upgrade path to OEMs. That said, there’ll be a slew of “4G devices” emerging between CES and MWC.

McGregor also argues that super devices are not all about the cores, but told RCR the real battle would be fought around power optimization, IP offloadage, graphics and video.

“Graphics and video subsystems are becoming more competitive,” he said noting that it would be interesting to keep a close watch on Qualcomm Inc., whose Snapdragon chip has an integrated baseband many telcos find highly attractive, as well as Nvidia Corp. whose graphics subsystems may well turn out to be the firm’s most important mobile asset.

Consolidation will be key moving forward, McGregor predicts and though many firms will take risks and start jumping their boundaries to spread themselves across several categories, whether these risks pay off, remains to be seen.