Mobile computing is becoming a vital part of many people's lives. Those that are on the go are constantly using their mobile phones or laptop computers to get things done whether it is for personal reasons or work. This growing dependence on this form of technology is allowing many companies to dominate the market with products that can do amazing things while on the fly. People are loving these more efficient and light computers that can still function at a high level. With the birth of the laptop people were able to take their computing with them and do things like write up reports or browse the web. Then we had smart phones released that allowed for all these to be done on a tiny screen, something that made having on in your pocket even more important.

There has been a new approach to the whole mobile concept of computing. While many companies look to release the next best laptop or mobile smart phone, Apple has attempted to revolutionize the way people go about computing. This is typical of Apple, as they are always looking for ways to change current products and make people more excited about the simple things. There most recent invention is called the iPad. It is a mobile tablet computer that has made mobile computing even more convenient. It is basically just a screen, and considering it is tablet (touch screen) it has all the basic functions of a laptop computer but without the keyboard.

The keyboard is an on-screen touch one, and all of the other functions are done through the touch screen. This changes how people are going to be doing mobile computing in the sense that they can pull out an iPad and quickly browse what they want or send information on the go. These have already had massive success in terms of sales, and people love the convenience of this product. It obviously doesn't have the functions of a laptop computer, but for those that want to only browse or watch movies, this works perfectly. What is interesting about the iPad is it is really just a giant iPhone. There isn't much originality to the concept; the creator just thought maybe the functions of a touch-screen mobile phone would do better if the thing was larger.

This market has already proven to be very lucrative and other companies are already beginning to imitate. Research in Motion, the creator of the Blackberry, already has plans to release their own similar looking version of the iPad. Dell has the same plans as well, with what they call the Dell Streak. Companies are seeing why people want an iPad and are already beginning to tackle this market. The question is, is this a good thing for mobile computing? With this new direction of computers people are going to be doing more browsing and viewing and less of what they would be doing on a laptop. Do we want these to over-run the laptops?