driftwood2

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

I think you are correct.

Liveblogging Amazon's Kindle DX Reveal

It's not going to make textbooks cheaper since only a little bit of the cost of a textbook is paper. This might save the newpapers eventually but probably not before many of the existing papers go bankrupt. A much better screen on kindle is needed before newspapers (or rather, subscription web site hybrids) can be saved. Ultimately, devices like this is inevitably replace paper for many purposes.

Where Has Microsoft's Growth Gone?

The growth probably went with Bill Gates.

MS needs to develop new, compelling products. The failure of Vista and the failure to fix Vista is a damning indicator of MS's incompetence and lack of initiative.

It does not necessarily need to ape Apple in the retail sphere though. It's always seemed to me like they are more a software provider to business than to retail. It does need to develop some of Apple's sheer inovativeness. They need to develop new products, not just new versions of old products.

The ad sector has been very much overhyped. Google only made a profit of 9B last year. That's a nice chunk of change but not huge compared to MS's existing size. Attaining that level of profit in the ad space would be very difficult for MS also.