It is a sign of the consumer culture we live in where businesses feel so scared that they can’t let anyone have the chance to do anything they haven’t predicted.

This is the opposite of innovation.

But a number of people care about DVD regional encoding – including purchasing players which have ‘lacked’ that feature in the past.

The iPad isn’t a complete general purpose machine. You need another computer to synch it to. With only up to 64GB of space, there’s no way for it to hold all the media and content on the iPad itself. Will iTunes be used to sync everything? Hope not

Next is sharing files from iPad to iPad. Now on the iPhone, you don’t create content, you consume it. It’s form factor doesn’t lend itself for anything more than an email or Twitter update. Photos get uploaded or synced. With the iPad, its form factor does lend itself to creating content other than just an email – and with no camera, well… With companies like the Omni Group saying they’ll port their apps to the iPad. Right there you have file creation. If you and your colleague both have iPads, you’re working on a presentation in iWork… How do you get the file back and forth to each other? Right now it seems that the answer is email. I’ve read that Apple will include access to a shared network drive or up to MobileMe. Is that the best answer?

Then there’s sharing of files from app to app. From what I’ve read, apps store the files they create within themselves. Delete the app, the files go with it. But what about the ability to open a file created from one app in another app? I’ve no doubt there will be text editing apps that will become available for the iPad. Will we have to transfer a file up to cloud storage just to be able to access it from different apps?

I think this aspect of the iPad OS hasn’t been fully addressed and is compounded by the nature of the closed system.

Another thing. Will Apple allow apps that compete with their own? Will they allow another mail app for the iPad? They’ve already denied Google their app for duplication of functionality.

I have thought about the situation that Wendy brought up – in a future where this type of device is all that is used, where will the next generation of programmers etc come from? If you take that to its logical extreme, our society could be in deep trouble – we rely on computers, whether we realise it or not, in just about every single facet of our lives and if no one is able to program these computers, or fix them when they are broken, what then?

So I see the point you’re making, but I don’t see it as a problem. I see it as a condition to monitor. If certain things happen, you may respond with an outcry or with a bold business move. If you are sure that Apple will ignore the outcry, then I would recommend being ready for the bold business.

People used to wash their clothes by hand in the river. Now (around here, anyway) there are automatic washing and drying machines. Do I bemoan my constraint to only a the few wash and dry settings on those devices? No, because I pour in detergent and push the ON button and my clothes get clean. That’s where Apple is headed with iPad™. I believe that most people will prefer that, if Apple does it right. Yet, there will always be nerds who want to “go down to the river” to write their own software and/or be developers for the devices that “everyone” uses. I also think that, properly monitored and shepherded, companies like Apple and Google and Microsoft will keep a variety of options available to us.