Software? Not a surprise

Nick Farrell has an article about the iPad in The Inquirer:

While the NASDAQ stock market actually rose on the news that Apple had named a date for its overpriced keyboardless netbook, no one seems to have noticed that the shipping date had slipped.
The rumour mill had been speculating that Jobs' Mob would have to delay the launch of the iPad, but everyone assumed it would have something to do with the Chinese hardware makers that make the thing. However, when the manufacturers said that everything was on time on their side of the Pacific, the rumour mill started to focus on the one thing that Apple does have direct control of, the iPhone OS.
John Gruber at Daring Fireball claims the software has taken longer to finish than they'd hoped. The problem apparently is in the timing of turning out the software. Obviously, on a scale with Duke Nukem on one hand and being on time on the other, a couple of weeks is nothing.
However it is strange that after all this time in development something as basic as an upgrade to the iPhone OS is still not ready. If Gruber is right, then it means that the one component that it should have been easy to get ready in a year is not ready.
We have seen Apple do this before. Its Mac OSX Snow Leopard had a huge number of patches issued fairly soon after its release. If the iPhone OS operating system is similar, then chances are that the iPad effectively will be tested in the marketplace.
Meanwhile, the marketing campaign for the iPad is stepping up. Apple advertised the iPad in a commercial break at the Oscars, ironically just after an Inglorious Basterds actor collected an award for being a jolly good Nazi.
The tame Apple press has been covering the iPad advert as if it is news. One CNET report even claimed that the ad's music clip will be downloaded a lot on iTunes. Many commented about how low-key the advert was, but said that Apple didn't need it anyway. Huh?
Really, what they should be saying is that if you buy this low-powered, overpriced iPod Touch you sacrifice any credibility you might have as someone who knows technology and your mind is out to lunch.

Rico says any reporter who inverts the Apple lower-case-i-cap-product-name system (carefully restored by Rico) as uniformly as this guy really doesn't like Apple... However, having worked both at Apple and Claris (now FileMaker), Rico says that software ain't easy, and having the iPad delayed shouldn't be a surprise. (Rico says he'll be in the Apple store the weekend it's released, whenever that is, drooling...)