The iPad: a missed opportunity?
So, Apple's rumoured iSlate, or the iPad as it turned out to be called, is finally out in the open. All respect to Apple for being so good at keeping a secret - it must be a lot of fun watching the various analysts, pundits and bloggers speculating on what your product is going to be.
Tablet computers have been described as a form without a function. They've been around for some years now but have never captured the public imagination. Whether the iPad manages to do so remains to be seen.
As far as Apple product launches go, however, this was pretty disappointing. Apple has traditionally raised the bar, coming out with often jaw-dropping, left-field innovations that leave other companies scrabbling to follow.
This time, the most remarkable thing for me was how little new stuff there was. In contrast to the scroll wheel, the touch interface, the graphical user interface or the mouse, this seemed like the most obvious move Apple could make.
Think back to just before the iPhone was launched. The web was a-flurry with conjecture, with artist impressions of what the product might look like. Some were actually expecting an iPod-style scroll wheel through which the user could access their contacts and input numbers. But when it arrived, true to form, Apple confounded all expectations with something even more elegant.
This time around, the conjecture around the tablet computer largely suggested it would be a bigger version of the iPhone. And so it was. A Kindle killer, perhaps, but hardly something to get the faithful chomping at the bit. The only remarkable thing, for me, was how badly-dressed the billionaire Steve Jobs continues to be.
I would have liked to have seen more from Apple. I've been using their products since around 1995, and generally love what they do. This time, however, the inspiration that five, 10 years ago seemed to seep from their every pore seems to have dried up.
The test though, as ever, is down to the consumers. If enough people want the iPad it'll steer Apple Inc in a new direction, paving the way for a different way of using computers. But if people shrug and carry on buying netbooks it might just make them be a bit more inventive with the R&D.