<i>They’re Microsoft and Intel rolled into one when it comes to mobile computing. In the pre-taped video Apple showed, Bob Mansfield said of the iPad, “No one else could do it.” Only Apple.</i><p>The Windows XP tablets really were quite impressive after about the 3rd iteration of the software.  I have an old tc1100, and it's very nicely designed.  Surfing, I must say is a pleasure on the thing.  They also had Zinio magazines pacakged with the install.  Of course the whole Windows software catalog is quite usable on the thing.  But Windows Tablets went the way of the Amiga and a bunch of things by Atari.  It's one thing to make great technology.  It's another thing to <i>market</i> it.  Apple can do <i>both</i>.  Or rather, they can do 5 things very well:<p><pre><code>    - Hardware
    - Software
    - Human Interface Design
    - Marketing
    - User/Developer Ecosystem
</code></pre>
If they weren't able to do all 5 of these very well, it wouldn't matter how great the devices are.  Other companies do the hardware &#38; the software.  Some are even pretty good at the marketing.  Very few companies do all 5 of these things as well as Apple does.<p>(You can think of the success of both Firefox and Ubuntu as the introduction of good HID polish and Marketing to communities that already had the Software and a good User/Developer ecosystem.)