I said once that the one big thing Apple would do with the iPhone was to show how kludgy, slow and ugly virtually every other mobile OS was like. That was true, but it wasn't even needed with Hildon. Man, that is one kludgy, ugly open-source mess they are toting on those devices.

The current internet tablets have been fun in spite of the messed-up GUI, primarily because they are built around Opera. That is what the tablets are - an "Opera delivery system" with a little glue around it to get Opera online. Take out the browser from the devices and you are left with nothing but ugly crud.

Meanwhile, on the iPhone, the OS itself is a star. Fantastically good looking, very usable and super-quick instant response. There are also several killer apps installed - iPod, phone functionality etc in addition to the browser. The new Wifi iTunes option that came out with 1.1.1 just made it that much more compelling to iTunes customers. Actual consumers - not just Linux geeks.

In spite of having owned a Nokia tablet and enjoying it from a geek point of view, they aren't very good devices at all. The hardware is pretty decent, especially the screen, but what they run is, aside from the excellent Opera, crap. Nokia has some serious heavy lifting they need to do get their gear to have operating systems that can work at the same level as their hardware. Until now, they're getting a C for the phones and a D- for the tablets, IMHO.