Newsweek har bragt en interessant analyse af, hvilken betydning iPad vil have i det store billede.

Den spås en rolle, som epokegørende produkt, der ændrer måden vi bruger computere og nettet på:

But the very simplicity of the iPad masks its transformational power. Some say the iPad heralds a new era of computing, and I’m inclined to believe them. The interface is so intuitive—navigating with your fingers rather than a keyboard and mouse—that it will change what we expect from our computers. Today we talk about “getting on the Internet,” but with iPad you can have a persistent online connection, and that’s a pretty profound shift.

Prisen for iPad’en revolutionerende evner vil være, at den repræsenterer en helt ny og lukket forretningmodel, hvor et firma sidder på både chipdelen, hardwaredelen og en del af contentdelen:

This shift represents nothing less than a complete rethinking of the past 30 years of tech history, when we’ve had chips made by Intel and AMD; operating software like Windows made by Microsoft; computers made by Dell, HP, and others; and applications made by thousands of independent software companies. With iPad, Apple is making its own microprocessor and its own operating system—basically, Apple is embracing the old vertical-integration model that was once the norm in the computer industry before the PC revolution Jobs helped create. By having its own microprocessor, instead of a chip that everyone else can use, Apple can tightly integrate its operating system with the chip to get better, faster performance. Rivals won’t be able to match it.