iPad Killers (AAPL)? Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Research in Motion (RIMM), Motorola Mobility (MMI)

While some have been all but declaring the tablet war all but over with the introduction of Apples (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad 2, the truth is this is just the beginning of a long, drawn-out battle, and companies like Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Research in Motion (RIMM) and Motorola Mobility (MMI) are just getting going.

Last week, Apple's ability to raise even the simplest innovation to the level of an epiphany was once again on display.

Apple's chief evangelist, Steve Jobs, took the stage in San Francisco to unveil the second version of the iPad. It's faster, it weighs less, and it has cameras and other neat things. But the moment of revelation was when Jobs described a new polyurethane cover that Apple (AAPL) has designed for the device.

"Our engineering and industrial-design team came up with this idea of using magnets that grasp it, and auto-align it," said Jobs, his voice rising in intensity as he pronounced "auto-align," as if to convey the wonderment.

In the hands of any other CEO, that moment would have been, well, merely something or other about magnets. With Jobs' air of authority, mixed with genuine enthusiasm and a dash of frisson, the moment surpassed the best any Home Shopping Network pitchman ever had to offer.

Magnets! Of course! Who would have thought!

The performance left the Wall Street analysts in attendance duly stunned, and they promptly declared Apple well ahead of the competition in the tablet-computer wars.

In truth, the tablet war is destined to be a long, long road, and there's no turning back.




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