First came the PC, then the notebook and netbook. Now we fast forward to the smartphone and the tablet. These new devices are taking the technology world by storm. Apple (AAPL) could sell 30 to 65 million iPad 2s this year.

As a result, The PC industry is bleeding badly. Look at these numbers:

• February revenue from PC makers in Taiwan is down 20%. The number is significant because Taiwan manufacturers 90% of all PCs.
• Hon Hai (HNHAF), which makes Apple products and PCs for Dell (DELL), saw shipments down 18% in February, as reported in Financial Times.
• Gartner, a research consultancy, lowered PC shipments by 5% to 387.8 million units this month.

The fast moving world of investing can turn on a dime, especially if you own technology stocks. Research In Motion (RIMM) was a smartphone darling. But then came the iPhone and now the iPad. Then we have Google's (GOOG) Android following on Apple's (AAPL) heels.

RIM suddenly woke up a found that it had fallen off its perch. Now the company is scrambling to do catch up. BlackBerry is losing North American market share and the company expects to ship only 13.5 to 14.5 million Blackberry's this quarter, down from 14.9 million last quarter, according to Reuters.

Over the years, Marvell Technology (MRVL) has built a solid business in developing chips for PC storage. The problem is that, with the emergence of tablets, the market is feeling some pressure. While Marvell has been moving hard into the mobile space, the results have been muted.

So, it should be no surprise that the company's recent earnings report was fairly lackluster. In fact, the shares were off 8% to $16.75 in morning trading.

When it comes to picking trends, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has nailed the latest market to experience explosive growth. It is the fast-growing tablet market, as reported in Reuters.

Morgan's analyst, Mark Moskowitz, has upped his forecasts for tablet sales in 2011 and 2012. For 2011 he raised his numbers from $24.9 to $26.1 billion. For 2012 his numbers are increased from $34.1 billion to $35.2 billion. Unit sales were upped by over 1 million to 48.1 in 2011 and 79.6 in 2012.

The PC industry has had few innovations over the years. Instead, the changes have been mostly increased storage and processing speed.

But it looks like Apple (AAPL) may be pulling-off a major disruption with its iPad. According to UBS analyst Maynard Um, the company may ship 28 million units next year. Because of this, he has increased the price target on Apple from $340 to $350.

Of course, mobile devices have been a game-changer for Apple (AAPL). And perhaps the sleeper hit is its iPad, which is growing at a torrid rate. Hey, it will be in China soon.

Google (GOOG), which is trying to break out of its online advertising focus, is working aggressively to get a piece of the mobile action. As seen with its Android operating system, there has certainly been lots of traction. In fact, there are roughly 200,000 activations per day.

While Apple's (AAPL) iPad has been a smashing hit, there is an onslaught of competitors gunning for the market. These include Windows 7 slates and also $35 Indian tablets. There's even buzz that Research In Motion (RIMM) will come out with the BlackPad.

So, to keep up its lead, Apple is working furiously to build supply as well as penetrate new markets. And yes, it looks like the company will move into China, perhaps as early as next month. To this end, China Unicom (CHU) will be the exclusive carrier for the iPad. This will also include the distribution of the highly popular iPhone 4.

Over the years, Dell (DELL) has seen a relentless attack on its PC business. Then again, in the tech industry, it is common for high fliers to wind-up in the dust bin of history. Unfortunately, Dell seems to be moving in this direction -- and shareholders have suffered mightily.

Traditionally, Dell's main threats have come from major PC operators like HP (HPQ) and Lenovo. But perhaps Apple (AAPL) is the biggest threat now. After all, the company's Mac business is gaining momentum and the iPad has become a runaway top seller.

Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) unveiled its new Foleo product today. This is the new mobile mini-PC 'somewhat' meant to go after Apple's iPhone (NASDAQ: AAPL) and R-I-M (NASDAQ: RIMM), yet the gains here may be short-lived. The CEO on CNBC today tried to play down any chances of a merger or buyout, although you know they never will say anything one way or another until (actually IF) a deal everir gets signed. The problem is that Palm just laid the groundwork for R-I-M and Apple to do the exact release if this works well.

Here is another issue to consider: mobile mini-PC's, even an instant on non-Windows version, are essentially just a newer version of tablet PC's. Personally, I am a huge fan of these devices because you can travel nearly anywhere much lighter than by taking a full blown laptop or shipping your PC around. They are great for mobile business executives. The problem is that the overall penetration has never really caught on like wildfire as the entire industry hoped. In 2003 I purchased my first tablet PC by Acer, and the truth is that it still looks fairly advanced compared to many other devices out on the market today. I am a Palm Treo user and the thought of being able to marry the two works great for me. But I am in a different boat than many and we'll have to see how preliminary sales do at $499.00 AFTER a $100.00 rebate.

Unfortunately this will probably end up just being another incremental source of revenues for Palm. This extends their Palm Treo's or other smart phones. This will be good for mobile business presentations, but the real issue is now that items can be forwarded off of emails and mobile flash drives have become versatile enough and powerful enough that PC users rely on these devices for far less. The price has come way in on these devices, now the question is if $499.00 is yet low enough.

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.