No, I don't read Gruber, and actually I strongly dislike Apple. But it's a comment that seems obvious to me. When was the last time any non-geek person said,

No, I don't read Gruber, and actually I strongly dislike Apple. But it's a comment that seems obvious to me. When was the last time any non-geek person said, "I can't wait to buy that new Samsung Galaxy tablet?" (Replace that brand with any non-iPad brand.) When was the last time you saw one in the wild, outside of Silicon Valley? When has anyone ever said, "Damn I really want a tablet computer" instead of "Damn I really want an iPad?" On the other hand when was the last time you saw a regular human in a Starbucks with an iPad? I've seen iPads in the most unlikely of places, like small cafes in rural Mexico (no kidding). Likewise I've never in my life seen any other tablet computer in public, anywhere. Anecdotal sure, but Apple's sales versus other tab's sales back that anecdote up to some extent. Tablet computers have been tried before, too, and didn't stick. Remember the MS tablet a decade ago? You can excuse it for poor hardware or poor software, but that's part my point--iPad has all that wrapped up, and everyone else is still struggling on both fronts while Apple is running circles around them. That's why there is no tablet market.