An Apple a Day...

This week is the week of Apple news. Forget about President Obama's first State of Union Address or the Feds holding the rates steady, all eyes are on Apple. First, they rocked Wall Street with their $3B earnings in Q1 of 2010. Second, Google out-witted Apple Engineers with a true Google Voice web app workaround. Third, Apple announced the much-waited-rumored-sketched iPad Tablet device. Lets take a deep breath and digest the latter two news.

Google Voice Web App: I'll make this one quick; this has always been a battle of the wits. Simply speaking, Google Engineers are way too much of a bad-ass to take no for an answer, so they are proving a point by beating Apple's backwards-thinking App store by offering a fully functional Google Voice application via Web Browser. PC Mag has a good hands-on review here.

Apple iPad: What is this thing suppose to be? I'm lost. Steve Jobs pitched it as filler for a gap between a smartphone and a laptop but I can't figure out what does this serve. As it stands for me, my iPhone and laptop is what I take along pretty much everywhere I go. For me to grind out some real work, I'll bust out my work-issued 14" Laptop with a real keyboard and resolution (1440x760) for some spreadsheet action. While traveling, I rely on my iPhone a bit more to stay in sync with news, emails and calls. There really isn't anymore room in my bag for another device. For those without a Smartphone and a laptop, this is probably considerable, however, for a device that is suppose to rival a real computer, the OS (iPhone OS 3.2) isn't quite as capable (yet) to replace a laptop. For starters, Apple messed up in two areas: 1). Lack of Camera for video-conferencing and 2). Still doesn't support Flash... WHAT?!?. That said, this tablet is nothing but an oversized iPhone without the phone, atleast it has a microphone. For more detailed info on specs, checkout Engadget's post. At a starting price of $629 plus a monthly data premium from AT&T... I've already to tossed this one right next to the Apple TV section.

{Does anyone else besides me find the name iPad a bit confusing with iPod... both visually and phonically?}