Apple released the iPad today, to responses that varied from "hooray" to "yawn". The cheers came from the Apple fans, who cheer any announcement from Cupertino. The yawns came from the rest of us, who may be wondering about Apple's strategies.
Here's how I see the iPad: It's Apple's response to the netbook market. Netbook computers have gained popularity over the past few years, and the lack of a netbook class offering in Apple's products in obvious. Rather than produce a smaller MacBook, Apple has chosen the route of a computer without a keyboard. Which is all very good, but also so very 2008.
The yawns from the audience are caused by Apple's focus on netbooks, which are now the old thing. Netbooks are here and part of the ecosystem. The new thing are e-books and e-book readers, like the Kindle and the Nook. (I still think that those are the silliest names on the planet -- but that's not the point.)
Apple addressed last year's hot item, not the current hot item. Yeah, they have a nice-looking tablet computer that can display e-books, and they have an agreement with some publishers. But they are not competing in the market.
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