[chj]

I, for one in many others, love the iPad at the first sight, because that is obviously the only way that an ideal tablet could be.

As a customer, I surely don't like the idea only Apple could produce tablets in this shape and size. OK, 5 years, at most.

Why is Apple so nervous about the "look and feel" copycats? Their success roots deep in their core technologies.

[timr]

...and yet, somewhere inside Apple, there's a prototype of the next iPad. And it looks different. Maybe completely different.

Lightbulbs look different than when I was a kid. Oxo re-invented the look and feel of measuring spoons. Objects as mundane as doorknobs have so changed their design over the years that vintage models can be sold for a premium.

It's practically a truism that after the next device comes out -- no matter how simple the device -- there will be people claiming that it's design is "obviously" the only way to do it. I've stopped listening to those people, because they're almost never correct.