>>>>>>>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12707160
>>>>>>
>>>>>>One interesting aspect is that MS was initially trying to pull an Apple with the Kinect, and lock it in to the XBox. The FOSS community offered a bounty for someone to create a driver: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinect#Open_source_drivers . MS later claimed it was a "misunderstanding" if anyone thought the device was closed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>So, once again, MS got prodded to do something it should have done in the first place. Over time they'll sell more of them, and they'll probably get feel-good stories about how Kinects are being used to help disabled people etc.
>>>>>
>>>>>Over here were quite a few stories on techies trying to get Kinetics to be used as an input device like in that Cruise movie
>>>>>as well as glowing praises for best "usability" of all current input devices. Maybe that is the reason they went after the gaaming crowd with WP7 - create a market to sell more Kinetics in ;-))
>>>>
>>>>"Minority Report"?
>>>
>>>Yupp. that was it... adding it to xPad/Phone devices might eliminate fruitless searches for rodents...
>>
>>xPad -- interesting word. I don't think it's a generic device yet, even though there are now many competing products. Apple has sold 15 million iPads since its introduction last spring. What is surprising is that no one has been able to match the iPad's price. Apple has never been known as a low price company, but they are in this case.
>
>You are spot on - I have been having stern internal discussion with myself wether to go for an iPad 1 at the reduced price, as a friend wishing to switch to a macAir wanted to sell me his macBook twitched to 8GB and already setup for Bootcamp and windoze VM - but the missing USB port just nagged me as the non-exchangable battery on the macBook(I carry 2 batteries and keep a lot on the MSDHC of my phone, feeding it via USB cable) and I refrained...
>
>Most of the better android pads seem to have higher prices for similar or even lower quality. The Asus pad with the separate keyboard and padstand including a second battery are currently foremost in my wish to get my fingers on such a device....
>>
>>It was good to see Steve Jobs do the iPad 2 launch last month. That was a surprise given recent pictures of him and his open-ended medical leave. He sure looked like a goner. Maybe he is, but at least he was at the launch. I know some do not agree with me (hello, Charles <g>) but IMO he is the greatest marketer in American business history. The Apple II, the Mac, the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, and now the iPad. That is a stunning string of game changing products.
>
>part merketeer, part snake oil salesman... He definatly left his mark second time around on apple. I think the Next is his most interesting machine, even if a failure: great vision in the OS there and the later switch to unix base was tested.
>
>regards
>
>thomas

There hasn't been anything equivalent in the market until now. There were similar tablet products but nothing equivalent. Now there is, in fact it's beefier than the iPad but the price will knock it right out of competition --
Motorola Xoom:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2053483,00.html
Current iPad competition is toast (the Xoom is too new - it shouldn't even be on the list yet but it is):
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-ipad-xoom-playbook-2011-3