Yep. I think even all the posts that obviously miss the point, just can't wrap their heads around that crossroads of technical and liberal arts that has been a mantra at Apple pretty much since the invention of the original Mac, and our first consumer GUI. The market for people who don't care about inner aspects of their devices, or having to learn a larger degree of how to work computers is absolutely huge. Even in this world, that market far exceeds the "tech heads" that litter this forum and much of the companies that want to compete with the iPad.
They grab the smartest, most technically inclined people to make their new *ahem* iPad/iPhone killer. The most university-programmed students, who learned how to speak the technical alien-speak and think of computers in the way they've been programmed to. Of course, the biggest mistake the university programs don't teach, is how to speak to regular people, or to think from a non-computer user's mindset. The only class, perhaps, a technical writing class to write documents for the business leaders, but that also doesn't teach that. You have to break away, on your own, and remember what it is like before all this, and keep your own translations of all the technical jargon you learned. Then apply it on how to relate it to people who don't speak your new found language.
Anyway, the idea is that they make operating systems for the computer savvy, those who already think like computers, and want everything to work that way. You say that for yourself the moment you say, "what I want is something where I can fully control what I want it to do, on a higher technical level" This isn't speaking for the entire industry for which the iPad, or Apple computers try to sell to. They sell to the folks, who generally try to steer clear from computers, because they're daunting to the average user.
We're talking about these average users which avoided smart phones, when they first came out, because they'd rather stick with simpler cell phones because it did only a few functions which was easy to wrap their heads around. Smart phones were daunting.
The iPhone was the first to convincingly bring smart phone capability without looking or seeming complicated to users who feared the complication of smart phones. There was no nerdy stylus to drive them away. No complicated file system screens or understanding how background processes worked in order to understand why the application wouldn't launch. Just general conversation to loads of people still using simple cellphones speak this in volumes. They'd rather have a really limited device over functionality if the functionality brings complications or things to learn with it. The same folk who wouldn't even understand, when seemlessly multitasking, that something is really running in the background and why (for those other devices) is my battery running down faster.
It's actually kind of laughable that any company trying to directly compete with that same market, still doesn't have anybody that actually sees the simple concept. It's like one of those puzzles designed for a dummy, for which the smart one often over thinks the situation and comes up with the wrong conclusion.
Now don't get me wrong, some of these devices may just be a hit with the Tech-savvy person. I'm also convinced they'll carve out a market, this way. However, they wont capture the *big* market. The reason is very much like the video game market, the world is different today. Now top platforms are dictated by the less technical who completely outnumber the technical folks. Like how something like Madden may be one of the top reasons your console sells. They aren't hardcore video gamers, they're just people who like football. A demographic, at least in this country, that vastly outnumbers the gaming crowd. iPad sucessfully brought these folks onto the tablet industry, and as long as the competitors don't appeal to them, they'll never get them.
