I don't think tablets are dying out any time soon, they're a futuristic gadget just coming into usefulness if anything. It's immensely useful to have a tablet in a great many industries today. If you're running around doing a check list or something, even a small laptop is probably just a pain in the ass, a small tablet with a stylus is perfect. It's the replacement for the steno pad, the pocket calculator, etc. Millions of irritatingly cumbersome notebook sales went poof with the advent of tablets for people who are actually mobile, not just working from multiple locations. Replacing computers that weren't really being used is just a fringe benefit of the technology.
Once most people that want one have one, there's not much point in replacing one ten inch tablet made in the last few years with another if all you're doing is checking on your virtual social life, so sales aren't going to be so hot. My parents and siblings all have tablets, and the only one that does a damned thing with it of any significance makes a living writing corporate software. The rest are just reading the news and such, only reason to replace them is if one breaks.
