[PugetSoundSoldier]

It's not just eventually, they have actually released a prototype product without a keyboard, called the iWheel. Totally revolutionary, Apple does it again!

I don't think Microsoft will copy this one, however...

[dayglored]

> It's not just eventually, they have actually released a prototype product without a keyboard, called the iWheel. Totally revolutionary, Apple does it again!

Those of us old enough to remember when the first Macs came out without a keyboard because the mouse was all you needed, and the first terminal emulators had to have a pull-down menu for a keyboard in case the user was on a mouse-only machine, think "The Wheel" is uproariously funny.

I think of those early Macs every time the keyboard pops up on my iPod Touch.

> I don't think Microsoft will copy this one, however...

Nah, they'll do it with only The Joystick instead of The Wheel. :)

Actually, though, addressing the topic of the thread, I fail to see what's wrong with a technology having product concept and design meetings that include sessions of "What the Competition is Doing Right and How Can We Do As Well". It's just part of business.