Dan Frommer at Business Insider’s “SAI” section reports that AT&T activated 400,000 to 500,000 3G-enabled iPads last quarter, compared to “roughly 900,000” other devices. The “other devices” listing, Frommer notes, would include the Kindle, the Nook, and literally hundreds of other Internet-capable devices of all descriptions, from e-book readers to digital photo frames.

There’s no telling what percentage of those were Kindles and Nooks, but as Frommer points out we can likely assume it was fairly high (and of course it doesn’t include wi-fi only devices, such as the new $150 Nook model). For comparison, Apple sold 3.27 million iPads (in both wi-fi and 3G) in the quarter ending June 26th, forcing Forrester Research to revise its predicted tablet sales estimates upward. (Neither figure counts international sales.)

Meanwhile, on Computerworld’s new “Apple Holic” blog, Jonny Evans writes that Apple currently has the 800-lb gorilla position in the tablet world—or perhaps the dog in the manger. Apple’s iPad is sucking up almost all available manufacturing parts and manufacturers are struggling to meet the demand—leaving not much more than table scraps for competitors to use to produce their own devices.

All the clever design and functionality in the world won’t help a tablet maker compete with Apple if it can’t manage to get the parts together to make its tablets. But how long will this continue to be true, I wonder?

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