The battle may be over, or perhaps it was already, years ago. Like the proverb says, before it was fought; or perhaps there will be fighting still, for appearances mainly, because these must be maintained. But it may no longer matter. Yes there will be new Kindle products to review, and an Android set-top box; another email feature and all that, whatever. Google will not disappear, and neither will Amazon, far from it. These groups, and others, will only have to learn to live in Apple’s world, is all. Perhaps this will not be a bad dwelling place for them, or anyone. Perhaps they will grow to like it. As long as they stick to the corner of the house set up as theirs on the iPad.
There are probably analysts here and there who are still waiting for the sales data and adoption rates. That’s important information, I agree, but really, we already know. Having been through the iPod rollout, and then the iPhone, I think we know where this thing is going. The pre-order numbers were being reported, and these were large. The critical reviews are in, and everyone is gushing. The product will be a phenomenon, a big deal, we know this. And more, it is going to be big in a way that does not only redefine narrow segments, as the iPod redefined music, or the iPhone redefined mobility. The iPad will redefine media: books, magazines, television, home movies, games, everything. (Forgive me if that seemed over the top and premature, but remember that the TV set, the radio, were also unknown once.) And that is not all, that is only a small part in fact. What is even bigger, the pièce de résistance, the iPad will redefine the web. Take note: On a large screen, that is a touch-screen, backed by powerful computing technology, the emphasis moves from sites and pages… to apps.
This is no tiny matter, for anyone involved. From the perspective of publishers, apps can be sold rather than given away for free. From the perspective of advertisers, app utilization is precisely measured, and traffic data is actual rather than estimated and wrong. From the perspective of consumers, big touch-screen apps open up a world of interactive possibilities with which scrolling down a page or clicking on a link simply cannot compare.
So when we read Walt Mossberg’s assessment that the iPad could threaten the long term prospects of the laptop computer, we should understand what this means for the way we consume media, and the way we communicate. It is not only an issue of hardware preference that is at stake, but the way in which content is made accessible. It is not only a matter of Apple vs. Dell, or Mac vs. Windows standards. It is a matter of sites vs. apps. And, once again, the battle is between Google and Apple. The battle, as I said, may be over.
