With the iPad 3G arriving to long-waiting consumers today in Dallas and across the nation, reports that two supposed “iPad killers” have themselves been killed.

The first to meet its demise is a tablet in development by Microsoft, the Courier. Microsoft confirmed further development and production on its tablet project has been cancelled with Frank Shaw, corporate vice president of communications at Microsoft, stating “at any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity. The ‘Courier’ project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings.”

The other iPad competitor to abruptly end its life before it had seen the light of day comes from HP. HP has reportedly decided to axe the Windows 7 tablet computer that they had been developing and which had been even been displayed by Microsoft earlier this year.

The much talked about HP tablet, unveiled by Microsoft CEO, and one prone to extreme hyperbole, Steve Ballmer at CES 2010 in January. The device was expected to go on sale sometime in the middle of 2010, however Arnold Schwarzenegger has apparently been brought in to terminate the project (no word on if the Governor of California was actually brought in to terminate the project).

With its recent acquisition of Palm, will HP now focus on creating a tablet running Web OS, the operating system of Palm? Will Google’s reported tablet arrive sooner than later and will it run Chrome OS or Android? Will anyone ever admit they purchased the JooJoo tablet?

Which tablet device will be the next to make it to market and will it provide any competition to the iPad? Comment below, submit any questions to us via Formspring, follow us on Twitter, and “Like” our Facebook page, for the latest in social media, and technology news!