No digitizer? Hm - the entire tablet allows you to draw on it, as long as the application allows it. As for copy and paste - works great between applications that suport copy and paste. IE - it's not the tablet that's the issue, and it still works well for your scenario *IF* app developers would get offa' their butts and support a few more things in their apps. (However, I can't think of a single productivity app on my iPad that I can't cut and paste between apps, and I've got more than one app that allows me to scetch out something, save it, and paste it into another app.) And if you REALLY have to have it, you can pick up a cheap stylus for it. And you can always shoot pics of the chalkboard from the iPad and save it, too.

iBooks with the ability to add annotations both textual and arbitrary hand drawn graphics would be a bit help.

Not gonna say it's perfect solution - then again, carrying my old Toshiba Libretto wasn't exactly a perfect solution either :-)

I'm one of the folks who's probably going to buy it sight unseen. I could care less about if someone else things I'm affluent because I have an iPhone 5, or if I'm "trendy" because of it, or anything else. And just because it's got an Apple logo in the middle of the back doesn't mean it's worth it's weight in gold either.

I'm still using a 3GS, and after two years it's starting to get a little beaten up - the screen isn't cracked or deeply scratched, but it's got a few pits here and there, etc. I was going to upgrade to a 4, but I decided to skip a generation since we're so close to the release of the 5. And, since once of the reasons I wanted the 4 was a improvement in the camera over the 3GS (which I use a lot), I figure the 5's camera will more likely than not be slightly better.

Which brings me to the question: how may of of the 35% mentioned are people who decided to skip a generation because there wasn't a compelling reason to upgrade to a 4, but about the time the 5 rolls around their 3G or 3GS is due for a replacement?
 

You might be thinking too 'inside the box' - for instance, PhoneGap handles pretty much every smartphone OS out there, plus Mac and PC. SO HTML 5 + CSS + JavaScript + (insert JS datahandling concept of choice) has become a VERY viable way of handling a write once then compile for platfom(s) of choice. It's not a solution for every problem, of course - I somehow doubt writing RageHD in HTML 5 is going to be a choice anytime soon. But for 75% of apps out there, it's a good, solid solution. And PhoneGap is by no means the only one out there providing such a solution.

I'll agree with you - most of my development these days is web development and iPhone / iPad development, but I still dabble back into industrial automation from time to time. I like my Mac Mini, for instance - it's solid, it's managed to survive three major OS upgrades since 2006, and it's still solid after four years of constant use. I like the "it just works" philosophy - I can focus on software development, not hardware troubleshooting. Apple isn't perfect, but the OS and Hardware combination is pretty damned good. (I will say, though, that after four years I'm finally going to upgrade the little box. This one will sit on the shelf and be a media box.)

The 'cool factor' is problematic - you're dead on right about that. But I've not been one to care too much about what everyone else thinks is cool anway ;-)

Conceptually, cracking this game is trivial. If it's using a DNS lookup to find the server, edit hosts. so it just loops back to the local machine (127.0.0.1). Then, write app that simulates the DRM server to save games, etc. are handled locally. Of course, I say it's conceptually trivial - depending on some specifics, it could get a little more difficult, but definitely doable. Same goes for the idea of streaming textures, etc. that someone else suggested - it's all crackable, just like nearly every scheme. Heck, even having the game live online only can be overcome with the help of some really determined people - if you can set up a WoW server at home, then even streaming game content isn't viable as a copyprotection mechanism.