Yup. Mobile computing devices are the PCs of the 90s. Even more so with the two-year contract extension device subsidization. $100 for the latest and greatest i

Yup. Mobile computing devices are the PCs of the 90s. Even more so with the two-year contract extension device subsidization. $100 for the latest and greatest iPhone every two years? Absolutely! Eventually the iDevice market will "settle down" just like regular PCs, and so I think Apple's strategy of software and design lock-in makes a ton of sense. In the long run, it's much easier (comparatively speaking) to innovate on the software end than on the hardware end. Once the iDevice gold rush is over, the software lock-in will keep me in the Apple family. With more and more things moving to the "cloud" I think that will continue to make phones and tablets "disposable" in the way PCs aren't. Apple is trying to get there with the App store and iCloud, but they are still long off from "buy a new MacBook Air, sign in to iCloud, and it's just like your old computer!" (aside: device subsidies never really worked for PCs, wasn't ePC some sort of a leased computer model?)