Versatile Amphibian

So now we know. The iPad 2 is dead – long live the iPad! Amidst the disappointment that we didn’t get super-Siri, haptics, a button-free fascia or even just a “3”, the iPad launch actually taught us a lot about Apple’s future strategy and marks a new phase in the growing war between the West Coast tech superpowers. For the first time, Apple have not just produced a beautiful-looking “wow” device, they have also created a new baseline for technical specifications. The combination of A5X, quad core graphics, LTE and Retina display is a leap ahead of the competition and demonstrates how Apple’s spending power on talent and IP are giving them the ability to out-design the competition in silicon as well as in user experience. Google, Microsoft and now Amazon will have to respond, and fast. This all reminds me of the multidimensional competition between the USA and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This too is a global conflict, fought indirectly through proxies, rather than face to face...

Ahead of Apple’s announcement of the next generation iPad, I thought I’d jot down what I expect (and don’t expect) from the new tablet. I’ll be keeping score :). Retina display What it means: a much sharper picture than the current iPad, great for HD movies and games and even sharper magazine and web browsing experiences. Likelihood: 100% - a safe bet as without this feature it isn’t worth refreshing the iPad 2, which is already the industry leader in the category by a colossal margin A 5+ MegaPixel camera on the back What it means: sharper pictures to go with your new Retina display Likelihood: 100% - it costs Apple nothing and enables a slightly better user experience Siri What it means: voice search comes to the iPad Likelihood: 100% - I expect this to be a major “buzz” feature at the launch A 5+ MegaPixel camera on the front What it means: a really sharp camera to enable high definition video conferencing using either Facetime or 3rd party apps. With iPad increasingly penetr...