It's Apple's ‘post-PC’ world — we're all just living in it
we're all just living in it — On Wednesday, Apple introduced the world to the iPad 2. A beautiful device, to be sure. Feature packed? You bet. Soon to be selling like hotcakes? Absolutely. But the introduction of an iteration on an already existing product …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's first iPad had already prompted early assessments of the new tablet, while an August 2010 survey counted 32 competing tablets, slates and pads. The iPad 2 gives Apple a refreshed device as that category crowds in.
Apple paired the iPad 2 with iOS 4.3, adding AirPlay, FaceTime, iTunes Home Sharing and a faster Safari JavaScript engine. At the same time, App Store policy changes alter the terms under which developers reach iPad users.
First-order effects
- Apple extends the iPad line with a new model and updated software, giving buyers a more tightly integrated hardware-and-services package.
- iPad developers must accommodate Apple's new App Store rules, which critics characterize as a strategy tax.
Second-order effects
- Tablet makers counted in the 2010 market survey face a faster Apple product-and-software cadence, raising the bar for matching both device features and the surrounding platform.
- Media and app providers gain new iOS distribution and sharing capabilities, but their access to iPad customers remains mediated by Apple's store policies.
Third-order effects
- If tablet competition continues to be decided by hardware, operating-system features and application distribution together, computing shifts toward vertically managed platforms rather than interchangeable PC components.
- Apple's ability to set both device capabilities and developer rules points to platform governance becoming a central competitive lever in consumer computing.
The trend: The iPad 2 is one data point in computing's shift from standalone PCs toward tightly integrated device, software and app-distribution platforms.