Two Thumbs Up For Apple's iPad

The Media Device for the Rest of Us
Admittedly, I am a huge Apple fan and have been ever since the first Macintosh rolled off of the assembly line in Fremont California and established the graphical user interface standard for personal computers. At the time Apple's advertising slogan for the new Mac was "The Computer for the Rest of Us." Fast forward about 26 years and we are again at the apex of another revolutionary product from Apple, the iPad.
iPad-My First PC?
The remarkable iPad wins on two fronts. Not only is it a fabulous media playback device for videos and recorded music but it can also bring the Internet, texting, and e-mail to the heretofore computer shy person. Even if you consider yourself an unsophisticated computer user, there are still large numbers of people who can't wrap their mind around a traditional PC with its keyboard, mouse, and graphical user interface. And until the iPad, these people were relegated to continue sitting out the Internet revolution. 

Vertical Markets As Far As the Eye Can See
 
It's hard to imagine how the iPad isn't the new solution for a vast number of vertical applications such as healthcare, sales automation, and shipping receiving to name a few. In many vertical markets the iPad has the potential of being a game changing technology. Even the US military has spent time at Apple headquarters exploring the possibility of using this technology for military applications. Link: US Army leaders visit Apple campus to discuss future mobile devices.

The Beginning of the End of Plastic Discs for Enjoying Music and Video
When I got my hands on the new iPad and promptly loaded it with almost 3000 of my CD audio tracks and a few movies from my iTunes collection, I quickly realized that the CD and DVD will very soon be gone. These plastic discs are already going obsolete. Nothing can compare to calling up your music library (complete with album art) on the iPad and just tapping the album cover to start the music playing. I loved that experience on the iPhone and now it's several times better on the iPad.
Back to the Future
I'm really delighted that Apple is back as a company, as an innovator, and as a cultural force. It wasn't that long ago that Steve Jobs stepped onto the stage of our Apple resellers meeting to introduce us to his new "Think Different" ad campaign. As a "Macintosh faithful" back then I was confident that Apple would rise again someday. I only wish I had held onto the stock. The "computer for the rest of us" turned out to be so sublime.

iPad May Be Revolutionary But Ultimately It’s All About "Search"

Awe-Inspiring Apple

Last week's announcement of the Apple iPad is Apple's latest attempt to deliver digital devices that first redefine and then dominate traditional markets. You need only count the three major markets that Apple has redefined so far to get an idea of Apple's awe-inspiring power:

• MP3 Music Players
• Online Media Retailing
• Smartphones

With the new iPad, Apple is set to redefine the publishing market from books to magazines to newspapers. And let's not forget that the company's Macintosh line has also made astonishing market share advances in the PC business against Windows based PCs over the last three years. This is a feat that no one would have predicted given the overwhelming market power of Microsoft.
 
Coming Soon "Augmented Reality" In Your Hand

But even Apple's outstanding track record of productivity enhancing devices will pale in comparison to the awesome power of the next generation Internet Search enabled "Superphones." I'm going to attempt to express this in the form of an equation that sums up the individual elements that make up one of these Superphones.

Superphone = Screen + GPS+ Camera + Wireless 4G+ Instant Search 

Note that most of the components listed are off-the-shelf except for one, Instant Search which right now is dominated by one company, Google. If you subtract Instant Search from the above equation you still have a very capable Superphone but it will be no match for the one that has instant search capability backing it up.
So what's an example of a Superphone that can deliver Augmented Reality (AR) in the palm of your hand? Say you're a real estate agent and want information about a particular home, you simply hold the Superphone in front of the house and you instantly know everything you need to know about the property allowing you to take action right away. You can also visualize what the home may look like with a different color paint or exterior modification. Another example might be holding the Superphone in front of anything you might be considering buying and have instant analysis including product reviews and friends' recommendations appear on the device to guide your decision.





Bing Anyone

Both Microsoft and Apple seem vulnerable as Google invades the operating system and device market. After years of Apple versus Microsoft battles, few could have imagined that the two companies will soon need each other more than ever to compete with Google. Many new multibillion-dollar Augmented Reality markets are at stake. Indeed there's talk that Apple will use Microsoft's Bing search engine instead of Google's for future Apple search enabled devices. It's also worth noting that Steve Jobs in his keynote address at last week's iPad launch didn't once mention the word Google. This is a far cry from the days when Google CEO Eric Schmidt was a member of Apple's Board of Directors and may have been privy to Apple's strategic decision-making. But the die is cast and both Microsoft and Apple get the "vision thing" very well. Both companies' are aware that their futures hinge on competing in the Augmented Reality market that is fast approaching.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/01/20/apple_microsoft_in_talks_to_make_bing_default_iphone_search_report.html