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The Apple Two
theodp writes "Over at Slate, Tim Wu argues that the iPad is Steve Jobs' final victory over Steve Wozniak. Apple's origins were pure Woz, but the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad are the products of the company's other Steve. Jobs' ideas have always been in tension with Woz's brand of idealism and openness. Crazy as it seems, Apple Inc. — the creator of the personal computer — is leading the effort to exterminate it. And somewhere, deep inside, Woz must realize what the release of the iPad signifies: The company he once built now, officially, no longer exists."
but never once have I felt the need to buy anything by Apple because there's nothing they make that cannot already be done cheaper and better than the stuff I currently have.
That's the point. Why pay $$$$ for an iPad when you can get an eeepc for less? If you really want it to talk to a cell tower you can do that.
You can also run Olympus Studio on it and take timelapse pictures out in the forest. Did Asus intend that? Of course not -- but they intended to sell a computer, a device that can do anything, rather than an "appliance" that can do what they want you to do and not much else.