While other companies could try to leapfrog Apple in the race to the "mature" tablet, they face a company that has been wizened by failure. The big difference b

While other companies could try to leapfrog Apple in the race to the "mature" tablet, they face a company that has been wizened by failure. The big difference between Apple today and the Apple that lost to Microsoft in the personal computer market over two decades ago is that Apple allows other companies to create software--now called applications--for its device. I can't make sense of this statement. Apple certainly had third-party developers on Mac OS (Classic) since the beginning. Makes the rest of the article somewhat suspect. If not, then it is up to a competitor with enough foresight and financial wherewithal to leapfrog the iPad 2 and re-conceptualize the tablet as a productivity tool instead of as an entertainment tool. The iPad has the most serious and capable productivity tools ever seen on a non-stylus tablet to date: Pages, Keynote and Numbers. What are they talking about?