I think it all stemmed from the iPod, even that jog control they started out with, it was pleasant to use, and anyone would figure out how it worked right away - it's like manually rewinding a cassette tape, or spinning a record. Apple built their whole product line around new interfaces which improved the user experience. So when they appear with a tablet that doesn't need a stylus, and doesn't frustrate the user like resistive touch does, well people lapped it up.
I've used a few tablet PC's, and they all pretty much sucked... a mini handheld PC about the size of a PSP, sucked, resistive touch screen monitors... sucked worse than anything else. People saw these as a gimmock, fine in a work environment for instance, where you might just want a screen on a wall that people use, keep the interface hardware away from them, so they don't choke on the keys, mostly because people weren't nearly as tech-savvy as they are now.
Myself, well I kinda miss the Palm stuff, like the Palm Pilot. I had a small one that could run emulators and games and stuff and it was brilliant. I got a handheld PC not long after that, big bulky HP thing with a huge screen, about twice the size of my Pilot, and it was terrible. I still have it somewhere, don't even like it enough to power it up, let the horrible thing rot
. Handheld devices and tablets have come a long way, and arguably that's because Apple grabbed the industry by the scruff of the neck.
Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
