…maybe not.   But we’re going to write one anyway – because we feel there are still at least two interesting things left to say about the new Apple device unveiled last Wednesday:

Point #1. Technically, the new Apple new iPad device was disappointing on several levels (still no Flash support, still no multitasking, still no video partnerships, still no AT&T alternative).  But while the storm of negative Twitter reaction had already begun while while Steve Jobs was still on the stage, it was not until the next day that the negative reaction was reflected in the stock price.  Take a look at the chart to your left – the iPad event started at 2:00 Eastern Standard Time and was accompanied by a clear immediate spike in Apple’s share price, due as much to the sheer momentum of pre-event buzz as to superficial (“isn’t Apple the coolest?”) mainstream media coverage of the event itself.  Despite an army of bloggers and tweeters continuing to bash the iPad for its disappointing feature set throughout the day, the price remained elevated – in fact, it was not until the market open on the next day (Thursday January 28th) that the stock suddenly pulled back, ending up lower than it was pre-announcement (armed with knowledge of the twitter traffic, shorting Apple at about 4:00 that afternoon would have been a good move for for short-term traders).

To me, this lag time between the (misguided) initial spike and the next day’s eventual retreat represents the disconnect that still exists between the technorati and investor classes.  That there was such a disconnect even in this case was surprising, though – because Twitter coverage of the event was fueled by an unprecedented number of tech websites serving live video streams of the event (surely a record for a product launch).   When it comes to high profile corporate events and/or panel discussions, the immediacy and global reach of live streaming internet video combined with social media platforms such as Twitter form a powerful and mutually-reinforcing mechanism to amplify and increase the penetration of any breaking news – yet still, it took a day for the initial widespread disappointment in the iPad’s feature set to register in Apple’s share price.

Point #2 The other notable thing about the iPad is the continued absence of Adobe’s Flash player on the mobile Safari browser.  Installed on over 95% of the world’s computers, Flash technology is responsible for the vast majority of video and animated content on the web today.  The next generation of HTML (HTML 5) has promised native support for web video (we wrote a bit about that here), but negotiations on the technical implementation have not been going well.  Furthermore, HTML5 requires the development an entirely new generation of browser – and even more daunting, the widespread installation of that browser among the internet user base).  For these reasons, at a minimum Flash is going to be around for years to come – the industry-leading premium video site Hulu is completely dependent on it, ABC and Fox have just announced a switch to it from a competing platform (Move Networks), and although Google’s not thrilled about it, for now at least YouTube still runs on it.  If Sergey and Larry can accept Flash for now, why can’t Steve?

Does the stubborn refusal of Apple to allow Flash onto the iPad/iPhone browser have something to do with the promotion of their competing Quicktime platform?  Shortly after the iPhone came out, YouTube bent to Apple’s will and wrote an iPhone app using Quicktime as a workaround, and this past summer there were rumors that Hulu would do the same – but that never panned out.  Regardless, we feel that the decision to force users to wait years for HTML5 to become a widespread internet video delivery platform or to force publishers to conform to the Apple platform in the meantime is coming from more than a little bit of hubris on Apple’s part (frankly we’re surprised there hasn’t been more of an outcry already).  But then again, so far the lack of Flash has only been an  iPhone/iPod Touch issue – once folks get their hands on that 9″ screen, they’re gonna want to surf the web – all of it – and they’re also going to want to watch them some internet video.  We’re not sure Apple fully understands this – and also, that Flash support could be a key lever by which a competing device could differentiate itself.

In any event, when new iPad owners are repeatedly greeted instead by the ‘sorry-no-plugin-support’  icon at upper left, the demand could increase for Apple to play nice with Flash.