Connecting the [internet] dots

The iPad seems to have started a revolution. If the stats in this piece from Salon are even half right, then the way we all communicate is going to radically change very soon.

"The market research firm iSuppli reports that "the number of worldwide subscriptions for wireless services is expected to reach 5 billion this month." That's equal to 73.4 percent of the world's population.

Best Buy's CEO told the Wall Street Journal that "internal estimates showed that the iPad had cannibalized sales from laptop PCs by as much as 50 percent."

Apple finally started officially selling the iPad in China, the world's hottest and biggest market for wireless devices. Press reports indicate that the launch is a huge success. Apple may end up selling as many as 12 million iPads in 2010.

After reviewing the data, one can only conclude that by the end of the decade, every human being on the planet will own a tablet computer. OK, maybe not everyone. But even making a joke about tablets conquering all would have seemed far fetched at the beginning of 2010. I'm not sure what the most important implications of having seven billion or so people all connected wirelessly together via their mega-powerful handheld devices will be, but that future is just about here."

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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