With Apple widely believed to have sold more than 10 million iPads through the holiday quarter, other companies are now simply battling for second place.

"The race is on to cut into Apple's huge lead with the iPad among all the major manufacturers," said Kurt Scherf, principal analyst with Dallas-based market research firm Parks Associates.

"It's a huge obstacle to overcome."

But Scherf summed up 3-D's performance in the retail market so far in just two words: "Epic fail."

"I have seen various articles trying to peg the penetration of 3-D TV in U.S. households, and I think 2 to 3 percent is about where we're at," Scherf said.

"In a market where well over 50 million households have HD TVs, that 2 percent is pretty stingy."

While it might not be as sexy as a new slab of hardware, the behind-the-scenes work that's going into wirelessly connecting all your devices could end up being the most significant trend in tech right now, Scherf said.

"I want to access my content on any Internet-connected device - what we're starting to call 'cloud media services,' " Scherf said.

"It continues to be an evolutionary path," Scherf said. "How do we make device-to-device communication better and easier for people to use?"

From the article, "At Consumer Electronics Show, spotlight will shine on tablets" by Jim Rossman

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