Shoving your webkit based browser down the throats of people that you just sold the idea of "No Adobe Flash" to me is dubious to begin with.

To then imply that you've not tested other browsers, including other webkit based browsers is just plain laziness.

It's not about control in this case. It's a showcase of their browser that came after a statement that only helped out their cause/bottom line.

But at the same time... Google at least let's people see their Chrome experiments on other browsers with the warning it might not work. Google less "evil" then Apple? Hmmm.

I'm not sure what are you talking about. There always have been sites written for specific browser. HTML5 has nothing to do with it (all browsers except IE8- support the features in question and as Ajaxian readers already pointed out - only two of the tests actually require HTML5).

No reason for namecalling, let's disagree without it.

I also am uncomfortable with Apple's draconian business practices. H.264 is a ticking bomb, for one... same for their desire to control things like cross-compiling and user content. Just sell devices and services on their own merit. What are you afraid of, Apple?

You get another gold star for that one there my friend.

This "war" is nothing more than Apple marketing and Jobs open letter was nothing more that a "neener, neener, neener...in your face, victory dance that let it be known that he now had the sales numbers behind him so he could decide the fates of ancillary technologies.

Apple and Jobs (Who is actually using NeXT, BTW?) came back from the dead not because of new technology. MP3's, CD ripping, file sharing had been going on for years. For most it was a mess. Tags were whatever someone thought they should be. It took hours to sort through shared files and make sense of them. "Free" programs for ripping, sharing, or managing MP3's were full of spyware and trojans, and the original artists were getting Bupkis.

iTunes changed all that for the masses. Jobs pulled it all together and basically said: "You will do it this way and no other". (The Germans have a marvelous phrase that roughly translates to that and when it is spoken, gets immediate attention.)

There are still excellent private collections organized independently and there are still private file sharing networks. But the stock and trade is now in iTunes.

This "You will do it this way and no other" business model worked and for an encore, Jobs/Apple applied it to the cell phone industry. Again no new technology, just an organization of stuff that was there already.

Because of the mess that the existing cell phone players made from providers controlling content and connection speed, competing standards like wap and xml, and various application environments, as well as the distribution nightmare that was J2ME... again this business model worked for the masses with the iPhone.

Everything an iPhone can do had been done by other devices for years. IPhone's technological contribution was pinch to zoom (woohoo ) and again tight control over content and delivery.

A lot of people, myself included have been wondering how and where this business model would be applied next. I have gone as far as to say I can't see it and it may mean Apple is about done as far as growth is concerned.

iTV? Nope, people are happy with their TV's. No mess to fix here.

iPad? Nope, this was more of a vanity exorcise for Apple. Unless more than what is already available for an iTouch or iPhone comes along, this may end up to be a huge waste of resources for Apple. Besides, people are happy with there Kindles and e-book readers. (The iPad's introduction is what first got me thinking that Apple is now desperate for growth opportunities. )

Tonight and tomorrow will tell us more but I fear from all this recent posturing by Jobs, Apple may be eying HTML as the next opportunity to apply this business model to.

We shouldn't let that happen and it is in everyones best interest to keep this from occurring. Because instead of corralling and managing existing technologies this "Do it this way and no other" approach would be applied to developing technologies instead.

History tells us that this approach will eventually fail. Unfortunately, just like in the past, much talent, resources, and energy will be laid to waste along the way...

Indeed, I'm with you on that one. I really thought "They're just trying to milk the multi-touch cow. Surely this can't work?"

However, nearly 2 million iPads later, Apple seems to have done it again (if only in smaller numbers than they had hoped, methinks).

Some quick math for those still awake.

2000000 * $599 (let's just take the average price of the wifi version for this) = $1.2 billion in revenue, which, if compared to their last quarterly revenue of $13.5 billion (if they maintain this number) would be a 8% increase in revenue. Not bad for something which is a niche product that most people saw going the way of the dodo very quickly.

I for one am looking forward to the numbers they'll post in June.

To beat the dead horse once again:
Sure, apple has done a good job at "getting stuff done for the masses" (i.e. simple user interface), but their buisness model not only relies on "do only what i allow you to do" but also a really short product lifetime and a media hype, centerd around The Company and its Dear Leader Steve Jobs.
I'm certainly not moving to North Korea, neither literally nor with my phone/browser/whatever.
Plus, I'm not addicted to Brighty And Shiny Colors (tm) and I'm not afraid of pointy buttons (they wont poke you if you touch them, you know...)
So anyway. Down with the dictatorship and a huray for a semi-controlled chaos.

I would love to bash Apple over this, but I think that in fact the temptation to control people or systems becomes irresistible once one has the power to do so. We need to fight Apple and Google and Microsoft and any other company that is subject to the temptation of forcing people to follow its will. (That's one great reason for government, btw -- it can be a countervailing power to big business.)

Until and unless they get in bed together.

Oops...

Momentum...

I'm wondering how many of those 2,000,000 are now, or will soon be on a shelf somewhere as people realize they really can only look cool with it for so long. Eventually you have to do something with the dang thing. E-books? Maybe.

Anything else you can do on an iPhone or iTouch and unless you are myopic, most would rather have the same functions in a smaller device.

And once again I'm thinkin' people who read e-books are happy with their Kindles and are generally not the type who want more gizmo's and gadgets in their lives. I doubt that they look forward to e-mails and IM's interupting their enjoyment of the book they are reading.

The thing about momentum is it works the other way too. Once it starts to slow, it's very hard to reverse that trend. iPad sales may very well signal to some that Apple is loosing momentum (Some say it already has.)

If this becomes a popular perception, Apple may need to pour resources into the iPad that would be more effectively used elsewhere.

The tell on this all will be the dissection of the Apple 4.0 SDK that is now occurring. Does it show capabilities to expand beyond what the OS is now or is it just an improvement over the existing OS's features.

Sooner or later someone is going to figure out that the need to wirelessly print from the mobile devices we carry and it may be the next market demand. Next up, near total voice command and control.

Hints in this SDK may give some indication. If it turns out it's all just sugar frosting on what they have now then that may mean we are looking at another Windows mobile.
Where the OS has to be almost completely redesigned in order to accommodate any new technology or major market trend.

Right now what 4.0 sounds like to me is it is more of a cash in on that sales momentum in order to maybe raise capital for R & D or buy a new liver or suttin'. Who knows? I don't think it adds anything that totally new and exciting or the internet would be a buzzin'.

Would you like ads with your iPhone? Well you have no choice now do you?

Seems they are not manufacturing those devices, maybe just getting them as a gift and then selling.