Group items tagged

Apple just announced the launch of the iPad, Apple's rumored tablet computer. Judging from what we have seen so far, the iPad is basically a very large iPod touch with a modified interface. According to Steve Jobs, the device will be far better than an iPhone or netbook for browsing the web. The iPad will also feature most of the standard apps we have become used to on the iPhone platform, including maps, contacts and a calendar.

Over the past few years, one of the most important shifts in the digital world has been the move from the wide-open Web to semiclosed platforms that use the Internet for transport but not the browser for display. It’s driven primarily by the rise of the iPhone model of mobile computing, and it’s a world Google can’t crawl, one where HTML doesn’t rule. And it’s the world that consumers are increasingly choosing, not because they’re rejecting the idea of the Web but because these dedicated platforms often just work better or fit better into their lives (the screen comes to them, they don’t have to go to the screen).