Is The iPad A Disappointment? Depends When You Sold Your AOL Stock. - John Battelle's Searchblog

Check the full post for some timely and intertwingled analysis.  

The fact is, the iPad is a revelation for millions and counting, because, like Steve Case before him, Steve Jobs has managed to render the noise of the world wide web into a pure, easily consumed signal.

The problem, of course, is that Case's AOL, while wildly successful for a while, ultimately failed as a model. Why? Because a better one emerged - one that let consumers of information also be creators of information. And the single most important product of that interaction? The link. It was the link that killed AOL - and gave birth to Google.

It was the link that made the web what it is today, and it's the link - reinterpreted in various new strains - that drives innovation on the web still. The link is the synapse between you, me, and a billion other humans - and the signal (dare I say, a signal one might consider third party data) which allows a million ideas to flourish.

So let me ask you one question, right now: Can you link to an app on your iPad?

Is The iPad A Disappointment? Depends When You Sold Your AOL Stock. - John Battelle's Searchblog