????我妻子請求今天搭乘飛機時能帶上我的iPad，為的是飛行途中我們的女兒能有點兒事干。我在蘋果iPad 2發布會現場給她發短信說：“我想你剛剛得到了一臺iPad。”其實我可以表達得更簡練些：“歸你了。我會去買臺新的。”

????到現在，蘋果（Apple）iPad2發布會已經被人們通過Twitter以及網絡日志實況轉播、評論了無數次。越來越多的蘋果迷正翹首以盼，等著到3月11日購買（或者已經開始預訂）更薄、更輕、更酷的iPad2。以下是由這一事實引發的幾點深入思考。

????*史蒂夫?喬布斯還活著，而且顯而易見，數月來他一直很健康。也許他看起來比去年10月時略瘦了一點兒，而且有時說話聲音會發顫。盡管他于1月份宣布請第三次病假，但是，如果有誰認為此后不會在公開場合看到他的身影，那這些人就大錯特錯了。

????*你可以從喬布斯反復提及的次數，看出某些措辭在他心中的分量。他一再用到的措辭就是“后個人計算機世界”。盡管眼下我仍在一臺帶鍵盤的PC上撰寫此文，但判斷蘋果前進的方向可謂輕而易舉。看看蘋果的首席執行官如何用該公司專門為iPad開發的GarageBand，轉瞬間將手中的iPad2變成了一架鋼琴，就足以證明上述觀點。我們也不難發現，iPad正一步一步地實現Mac計算機的一切功能。

????*蘋果很重視競爭對手。喬布斯不斷地抨擊三星（Samsung）和摩托羅拉（Motorola）以及谷歌（Google）等公司，有時指名道姓，有時含沙射影。毫無疑問，蘋果在平板電腦領域擁有優勢，而且將對手甩得很遠。但是，蘋果仍然小心翼翼，這點也肯定無疑。它依然像不起眼的小公司一樣思考，即便它早就不再是家小公司。

????*蘋果電視（Apple TV）也在慢慢擺脫早先的歸類，不再僅僅是 “業余愛好”而已。用蘋果電視將iPad2連到電視機上，簡直易如反掌。由于iPad受到普遍歡迎，多家廠商（數字視頻播放器企業Roku和谷歌就是其中兩家）正在競相角逐的外圍應用比以往任何時候都更可能成為現實。

????譯者：大海

????My wife pleaded to take my iPad with her on a flight today, the better to occupy our daughter while airborne. I texted her from Apple's event to announce the iPad 2: "I think you just got yourself an iPad." I might more succinctly messaged: "Keep it. I'm getting a new one."

????By now the Apple event has been tweeted, live-blogged and commented upon ad nauseum. So here are a few higher-level takeaways, behind the fact that the growing legion Mac fanatics will be waiting to buy (or already are pre-ordering) their thinner, lighter, cooler iPad 2s on March 11.

????* Steve Jobs is alive and apparently as well as he has been for months. He looked perhaps a little thinner than in October, and his voice faltered at times. But for all the people who thought they wouldn't see Jobs in public again after his announcement in January of a third medical leave, they were wrong.

????* You can tell the tropes Jobs thinks are important by how often he repeats them. "Post-PC world" was that trope today. Though I'm writing this post on a PC with a keyboard, it's easy to see where Apple is leading. Just seeing how an Apple executive turned his iPad 2 into a piano using Apple's GarageBand for the iPad proved the point. You can see how little by little the iPad is doing everything a Mac can do.

????* Apple takes the competition seriously. He repeatedly slammed Samsung and Motorola and Google, sometimes by name, sometimes by obvious inference. There's no doubt Apple is out front on tablets. Way out front. There's also no question Apple is paying attention. It still thinks like an underdog. Even if it isnt' anymore.

????* Apple TV is inching away from the hobby category. Apple unveiled a super easy way to connect an iPad 2 to a TV using Apple TV. With the ubiquity of iPads, this fringe application that numerous players are chasing (Roku and Google to name two), is ever closer to becoming a reality.