The Apple iPad was so last week.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great product. It has a good screen, is easy to use and is a terrific way to surf the Web, check e-mail or watch video — as long as you buy or rent the video from Apple iTunes or go to a video site that doesn’t require Adobe Flash and is actually compatible with the device.

There is a lot to like about the iPad. But unlike that original tablet, the one Moses brought down from the mountain, it doesn’t have near-universal appeal. I’ve seen plenty of blog posts and online comments from people who say they have absolutely no desire to own one.

One thing I like about the iPad is that Apple has introduced a new ”form factor” that’s between the smartphone and the laptop. It’s not the first tablet PC, but it is the first one likely to sell in the millions.

What I’m most excited about is the products it will spawn. With any luck, we might soon have a vibrant market with some real competition for Apple.

Hewlett-Packard certainly hopes to be a player. Just a couple of days after the iPad shipped, HP posted a video to show off its upcoming slate device, likely to come out later this year. It’s the same device that Steve Ballmer held up during his Consumer Electronics Show keynote, which means that, for better or worse, it will run Windows 7. That’s a good thing when it comes to compatibility with lots of software, but possibly a bad thing when it comes to performance

and battery life.

Last week, Engadget posted what it says is an internal HP presentation comparing its Slate with the iPad. If true, the Slate will have an 8.9-inch screen, with “5+ hours” of battery life (compared with 10 hours for the iPad). But unlike the iPad, it will have a USB port, an SD card reader and a Webcam. The 32-gigabyte version is expected to cost $549, which is $50 more than Apple’s entry-level 16GB iPad and $50 less than the 32GB iPad.

There also will be tablet PCs coming out that run Google’s Android operating system — the same operating system that now runs on Google’s Nexus One phone, Motorola’s Android phones from HTC as well as phones from Samsung and others. Unlike the iPhone OS, Android is open source, which means developers can enhance it to suit their needs. And the Google “marketplace” is also open, which means that Google doesn’t have to bless an application or a peripheral before it will work with these devices.

I recently stopped using an iPhone on a daily basis and started using a Nexus One (Google loaned me the phone but I pay for my own service) and I am happy with the switch. My son, who used an iPhone during his last two years at college, also switched, mostly because T-Mobile’s $80 unlimited plan is more affordable than AT&T’s plan. But he says he wouldn’t switch back even if the service cost wasn’t an issue.

While it’s not quite as responsive or crash-proof as the iPhone (Apple has had three years to get it right), Android is nonetheless a very nice operating system. I prefer the GPS software on the Android to the rather lame GPS on the iPhone and generally am happier with the user interface.

One thing I don’t like about Android is that there are too many versions floating around. Not all phones support all versions, and even within versions, some applications don’t work with all phones. To be successful, an open operating system like Android should allow the latest version to work with all compatible devices.

I like that data for Gmail users is synced on Google servers, but I also find that worrisome. When I switched from a Motorola Droid to a Nexus One, all I had to do was enter my Google user name and password and, within minutes, my phone was all synced up and ready to use with my e-mail, my contact list and my calendar. It even had the same custom wallpaper I had on the Droid — a photo I took. But I found it a bit creepy for my wallpaper to re-emerge from a past phone without even being asked if I wanted that picture on the front of my phone.

What bothers me about this is that it puts Google in control of storing all your essential contacts, calendar and more. I’m not so worried about the company deliberately misusing my information but do worry about a possible data breach or what might happen with future generations of Google management.

It also means it’s easy for the government or a civil litigant to get their hands on the data. That would, of course, require a legal order but — again looking forward — who can predict how a future Congress or future courts might approach such orders? This is the risk we take when data is stored “in the cloud.” There are advantages but, to paraphrase a Joni Mitchell song, it’s important to “look at clouds from both sides now.”

Apple also announced a new advertising platform for developers called iAp. Ads can run inside applications with video and interactive features.

Music and navigation in background

During the press conference held at Apple headquarters this morning, Jobs invited Pandora CEO Tim Westergard on stage to show that Pandora online radio can play in background while other apps are running. Jobs also announced that the iPhone users will be able to pick up internet phone calls from Skype and voice applications that can run in the background. The iPhone will also support background GPS navigation so you can be using a navigation program while talking on the phone or doing other tasks. Apps can ask for your location but the new operating system will give users the choice on an app by app basis.

Apple is also adding background notifications for third parties including a new service called local notifications that doesn’t require a server. Apps can running on phone can notify you from the phone

Task completion: Some apps, said Jobs, take awhile to complete tasks, but with the new OS, they will be able to do things like uploading photos in the background even after you switch away from the program.

Folders: Apple will make it easier to organize apps by creating folders on the iPhone desktop. Just drag one app on top of another and it makes a folder. It automatically names the folder but you can rename it. This can be extremely useful for people who have a lot of apps. I sometimes have trouble finding Apps on my iPhone’s home screen.

Enhanced Mail: Apple will offer a unified inbox so you can have multiple email accounts with all incoming mail in one inbox. You can also have multiple Exchange accounts and you can move between multiple inboxes if you prefer. It will also be possible to organize mail by thread. Apple has also added the ability to open mail attachments with apps. I wonder whether this could lead to security issues of the possible spread of malicious code via email.

iBooks will be added to the iPhone similar to what is now on the iPad. Of course it’s long been possible to read Amazon Kindle books on iPhone.

There are some features for enterprises including email encryption and better mobile device management tools. Businesses will be able to distribute custom apps wirelessly from their own servers. Apple has also added support for Exchange Server 2010

Game Center: Apple is adding a social gaming network. You can challenge your friends or find others to play with you. There will be a leader board to see how you’re doing compared to others.

iAd: iPhone will have an adverting platform for developers. Some aps now have ads but Jobs says most of the time “it really sucks.” He said that the iAd feature will be a more elegant solution. Jobs says that most people are using apps rather than a search engine on iPhones and sees apps, not search as the best way to deliver ads. He said that the average iPhone user spends over 30 minutes a day using apps. Apple, said Jobs, wants to improve the quality of ads to make it easier to deliver an “emotional advertising”as is now possible with TV. The goal is also to be even more interactive than web advertising. Today when you click on an ad it takes you out of the app which keeps people from clicking. With iAd they will deliver interactive video content without taking you out of app. Jobs said that there is “an opportunity to make “a billion ad impressions a day” which he says is a “fairly large number.”

Apple will sell and host ads and give developers 60% of the revenue. Jobs showed off a prototype of a Disney Toy Story ad (developed by Apple, not Disney) that includes a game, posters and video. It’s very interactive., You can even buy games from within the ad. Jobs calls it “an example of a new kind of mobile ad.” When you’re done with the ad, you click an “x” can go back to the ap.

This notion of apps being more powerful than search for delivering ads is kind of a dig at Google. Jobs said that the iPhone is the first time in history where there have been so many (185,000) aps on the desktop. He says that’s not true with personal computers and accounts for why user behavior is so different.

Apple plans to release the operating system to the iPhone and iPod Touch users this summer and for the iPad in the fall. Some features, including multitasking, will not be available on first and second generation iPod and iPhone devices.

The screen looks great — albeit a bit smudgy from fingerprints — and it’s a fast and easy way to access the Web and send e-mail.

The iPad is a great way to watch video, as long as you buy or rent the video from Apple iTunes or stream it from a source that’s not encoded with Flash. Unfortunately, a lot of Web video uses Adobe Flash.

Using the on-screen keyboard isn’t as efficient as using a physical keyboard, but it’s better than I expected, especially if you hold the iPad in landscape mode. The virtual keyboard in landscape mode is about 85 percent the size of a standard keyboard. You can also use an external keyboard such as the $69 Apple Bluetooth keyboard that makes it possible to use an iPad for serious writing projects.

I like the fact that it turns on instantly. No more having to “boot” a computer or even wait a few seconds for a PC to come out of sleep mode. The iPad wakes up the moment you press its home key — handy if you want to quickly check a Web page or send an e-mail.

While I’m pretty happy with the iPad, I have a few gripes about it, namely that this device, like the iPhone and the iPod Touch, is heavily controlled by Apple.

Aside from using iTunes, there’s no easy way to get data on the iPad. And all applications have to be approved by Apple and canonly be obtained through the App store.

The lack of a USB port forces users to get products designed specifically for the Apple iPhone, iPod or iPad. It also bothers me that users can’t replace their own batteries.

Like many people, I’m disappointed that the iPad doesn’t let you run more than one program at a time. Apple has a news conference scheduled for Thursday where it will show off its next generation iPhone operating system (that presumably will also run on the iPad), and I’m hoping that they will announce support for multi-tasking.

And of course, it’s too big to carry around in a pocket. So, unlike an iPhone, other smartphone or iPod Touch, the iPad is not something you’re likely to have with you everywhere you go.

Bottom line — the iPad is a very cool product that’s fun to use, but I can’t think of anything you can do with it that you can’t do with a laptop or netbook computer, whose prices start at under $300.

I believe Apple may have built the first successful tablet computer, something Microsoft and other PC-makers haven’t been able to accomplish for a decade. I’m hoping that Apple’s leadership will rub off its competitors.

This column first appeared in the Palo Alto Daily News

For months the two companies have competed in the mobile-phone market thanks to Google’s Android operating system, and that competition is fiercer now that Google has stamped its logo on the back of the Nexus One (designed by Google and manufactured by HTC). Despite some differences, the new Google smartphone looks a lot like an iPhone.

There’s competition on other fronts as well, including the operating system business.

In its initial blog post in July, Google positioned Chrome OS as “an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks.” That alone could harm Apple if Chrome-powered netbooks take sales away from Mac laptops. But now there’s talk about both Chrome and Android being used on tablet devices that could compete with Apple’s just announced iPad.

Concept of what a Google tablet might look like (source: Google)

There have been no product announcements, but Google’s Chrome Web site is displaying “visual explorations of how a Chrome OS tablet UI (user interface) might look in hardware.” The illustrations provide only a vague idea of what such a tablet might be like, but their very existence indicates that Google may be eyeing the market that Apple hopes to bust open.

Just in case one tablet operating system isn’t enough of a threat to Apple, Google is potentially going after the iPad with two operating systems at once. Android, in addition to Chrome, could also be used to create a potential iPad killer.

At last month’s Consumer Electronics Show, MSI displayed a 10-inch tablet running Google’s Android operating system.

It’s important to emphasize that neither the Google concept drawings nor the MSI prototype represents a real product. But what they do represent is the possibility, and perhaps the intention, of Google to quickly enter the tablet marketplace.

To be sure, there are important differences between Apple and Google. Apple is more focused and disciplined — it works long and hard on a very small number of products and keeps quiet about them until they’re almost ready for prime time. Then, with great fanfare, Steve Jobs announces them to the world and puts them on sale shortly thereafter.

Google throws lots of things against the wall to see what sticks. The company’s experimental culture is so strong that employees are allowed to devote 20 percent of their time to any project that strikes their fancy, some of which actually see the light of day as products or services.

Apple’s formula — at least with the iPhone — worked like a charm. The hype was followed by a product that delighted most early reviewers and customers. And although I questioned in last week’s column whether the iPad can live up to its hype, I acknowledge that it is an innovative product that might do well when it hits the market.

Google’s approach is usually to pre-announce months in advance and rely on partners like HTC (and now Motorola) to build devices around its open source software. Unlike the first iPhone, the initial Android phone — the HTC G1 — got tepid reviews. But with the release of the Motorola Droid and Google’s Nexus One, Android is starting to win fans and respect.

Google’s initial foray into the browser market was also a bit disappointing but that, too, is starting to change. When the Chrome browser came out, it was a bit faster than market leaders Internet Explorer and Firefox but not nearly as versatile because it lacked support for extensions that allow third parties to add functionality. However, Google recently released a beta version of Chrome that fixes that problem.

Last month Chrome overtook Apple’s Safari as the third-place browser behind Internet Explorer and Firefox, according to Net Applications. As more extensions become available and more people download the newer version, I’m confident its market share will continue to grow.

The biggest difference between Apple and Google has to do with control. Apps for both the iPhone and iPad will be distributed through Apple and be vetted and approved by Apple before being made available to users. Google has a more open approach, allowing anyone to create an app for their phone or their computer operating system.

The democrat (small d) in me sides with Google. But the part of me that’s concerned about safety and security understands the advantages of having a company like Apple examine the applications for its devices.

Mostly I’m just glad to see these two talented and resourceful companies compete with each other and, of course, Microsoft, which was once thought to be a monopoly but is now struggling to compete with both Google and Apple.

This post is adapted from a column by Larry Magid that appeared in the San Jose Mercury News

As I think about last week’s Apple iPad announcement, I recall PC-maker Lenovo showing off its IdeaPad U1 Hybrid at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

The IdeaPad is an interesting cross between a laptop and a tablet. Unlike other tablet PCs, the screen actually peels away from the base station. In laptop mode it runs Windows 7. But when you use the screen by itself in “slate mode,” it runs a home-grown Lenovo operating system that’s optimized for use without a keyboard.

I thought it was cool and it was a clever-enough idea to win CNET’s best-of-show award for computers and hardware. Still, there wasn’t a great deal of buzz around the product. And, despite its rather weird design, I didn’t see a lot of press either praising or damning it. It was just an interesting idea from a company that makes some of the most respected laptops on the market.

Contrast that with Apple’s iPad announcement. The amount of pre-announcement hype was out of control. The blogosphere and even the mainstream press had a feeding frenzy speculating over what Apple would unveil. Apple was officially mum, but it’s likely someone in the company was leaking bits and pieces to help build anticipation. There was even a report in TechCrunch ahead of the announcement claiming that Steve Jobs was overheard saying it “will be the most important thing I’ve ever done.” When Jobs finally took the stage to unveil the iPad, he called it “magical and revolutionary.”

With all of this hype in the back of my head, I was one of hundreds of tech journalists to show up at Yerbe Buena Center in San Francisco on Wednesday to find out what all the fuss was about. The street in front of the building was crowded with TV satellite trucks and the press — many arriving hours early — were anxiously speculating about exactly what Jobs would pull out of his hat.

The answer is the now much-written-about iPad, which is getting a mixed reception from the press and those who are Tweeting and blogging about it. Writing in Thursday’s Mercury News, my colleague Troy Wolverton said he wants to buy one but “just not yet.” He’s waiting for version 2.0, which he hopes will support Adobe’s Flash and allow multi-tasking.

My take on the device was less charitable. In my CBSNews.com post, I called it “underwhelming.”

But my verdict has to be put into the context of all the hype. Had Apple called this device the “Ipod Touch 2,” I would have praised it as a really good follow up to an excellent product. I would have still questioned whether there is a market for a device that’s too big to put in your pocket but not as easy to type on as a laptop, but I would have given Apple the benefit of the doubt, just as I did with Lenovo.

It’s great to innovate, it’s great to introduce new ideas to the market and it’s great to “throw it against the wall and see if it sticks.” After all, experimentation, including experiments that fail, are an important part of what drives innovation.

But this was more than just experimenting with a new concept. To begin with, the concept isn’t new. There have been dozens of tablets or slate computers and none of them has been able to attract more than a niche audience.

I was at the Comdex computer show in 2000 when Bill Gates introduced the tablet PC. A year later Gates predicted that the tablet “would become the most popular form of PC within five years.”

Of course Jobs’ tablet PC is different than the ones built to Gates’ specifications. For one thing, the iPad is mostly about content consumption, and it’s built on the successful foundation of several generations of iPods, iPhones and Apple’s iTunes and iPhone Apps stores. Apple is also doing content deals with book publishers to assure plenty of stock for its new iBook Store that will compete with Amazon.com towards Apple’s goal of turning the iPad into a book and periodical reader.

The content, the elegant design, reasonable starting price ($499 for one with 16 GB of storage and no 3G modem) of the iPad and Apple’s superb marketing skills all bode well for this new device. Yet, I’m one of many people who came away a little skeptical and a bit disappointed, not because it’s not a good device but because it didn’t (perhaps couldn’t) live up to all the hype.

I pretty much expected it to look and work like it does, but I also expected Jobs to delight the crowd with “one more thing” that would make me want to rush out and get one of my own as soon possible. That didn’t happen.

This column first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News