Given that there have been several web pad initiatives in the past, it should come as no surprise that there were iPads in the past as well. A brief scan through my Pen Computing's archives revealed that LG Electronics announced an iPad at CeBIT 2001, a multimedia-savvy Linux-based tablet handheld that offered Internet access, plus standard PIM features and word processing. A year later, the Fujitsu iPad was announced by Fujitsu Transaction Solutions, Inc., at the 2002 National Retail Federation Expo in New York. The sleek 10 ounce device was based on Microsoft's CE .NET and at Pen Computing I commented on how the Fujitsu iPad could even function as a cordless phone (using WLAN and VoIP).

Every time I see one of those silly Verizon "map" commercials and then AT&T's hapless attempts at a counter punch I wonder what must be going through their minds. You gotta give Verizon credit for dreaming up the clever albeit obnoxious "There's a map for that" spots aping off Apple's crisp and clean "There's an app for that" commercials, and how they then exploited what's really nothing more than differences in wireless services technical nomenclature into making it look like AT&T had practically no coverage at all in the USA. I mean, all AT&T has to do is say "We have the iPhone. Verizon doesn't." For that's really what it all boils down to. (And, oh, why in the universe did they ever ditch "Cingular" for AT&T???)

There is one thing that really frosts me with some iPhone apps: When they sneak advertising into an app under the pretext that it's an upgrade or as part of an upgrade.

I understand that content providers somehow have to pay for their content. Newspapers are closing left and right, magazines are struggling, and no one quite knows how to make money by taking the content online. I really understand that. But please be honest about it! Simply sneaking an obnoxious ad feature into an app as part of an "upgrade" is just not right. Announce it, give people an option, but don't make them "upgrade" to an app that'll then be polluted with ads without first telling them!

These days, you can't turn on the TV without being subjected to commercials pointing out how much better this smartphone or that is to the iPhone. The iPhone isn't usually mentioned directly, of course, but it's clear that it's the target as the commercials usually concentrate on what are perceived weaknesses of the iPhone. 

When you watch those commercials you'd think the iPhone's lacking and surely it must be toast now that the competition is so much better and so much more advanced. But is it? Honestly, even as a tech writer and reviewer I just don't know. For example, I've been reading about Google phones for a year now. Each was billed as an iPhone killer, but from what I can tell, Google phones really haven't gained much traction.