Innovation over and over again from one company

With the creation and successful launch of the iPad, Apple has demonstrated that it still has what it takes to imagine, design, build and deliver on schedule and at an affordable price a jewel-like piece of computer technology that inspires consumer lust.

There ought to be some soul searching going on right now among Apple's competitors. For this is not the first time the company has picked up a discredited idea and created not just a successful product, but a whole new industry. There were MP3 players before the iPod. There were smartphones before the iPhone. And there were plenty of tablet computers before the iPad, even if they did run Windows.

Certainly building something like this is not an easy thing to do. It requires world-class design teams, dependable supply chains, impeccable quality control, first-rate marketing, an army of high-maintenance developers and the foresight to build a tightly integrated software environment in which all the parts — software, hardware, retail, networking — fit seamlessly together.

Every other computer and software company can claim to own pieces of that chain. Microsoft (MSFT) has well-integrated operating system and application suite. Sony (SNE) has the hardware and software designers, as well as the stores. Dell (DELL) and HP (HPQ) can turn out devices quickly and know how to appeal to consumers. But somehow none of that is enough to transform an industry again and again and again.

To do that requires, to paraphrase Jobs' favorite Wayne Gretzky quote, skating to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.

By the few accounts have leaked out of Apple's tightly sealed PR machine, the iPad would appear to be Steve Jobs' baby. First there were the reports that Jobs was pouring all his attention on the iPad, even while he was on medical leave, rejecting design after design until he was fully satisfied. He is said to have told friends and colleagues that the device was the "most important thing" he has ever done (via fortune).