There's an app for that
As with cell phones and MP3 players, Apple rarely invents new product genres but instead perfects and popularizes existing ones. Such was the case with the iPad, a tablet computer released in 2010 that ran the iPhone operating system, rechristened iOS. Apple sold more iPads in its first three months than all other tablet competitors had in 2009 combined.
Compatible with iPhone apps and iTunes songs, the iPad further popularized the idea of an "app store" while redefining what it means to be a tablet. Previously, tablet computers were simply portable Windows machines with a stylus-driven interface; after the iPad, almost all tablet computers offer touch interfaces powered by mobile operating systems such as Android.
The second generation iPad is already one of the most anticipated products of 2011, while iOS's App Store has already made its way back to the Mac with the recent launch of the Mac App Store, one of the key features in the upcoming eighth iteration of Mac OS X, Lion.
(Photo copyright © Apple Inc.)