If you will assume with me that the iPad represents a new product line and not an extension to the iPhone or the iPod, then you need to view the product in the context of the coming decade, not the coming year. And in that context I highly doubt it matters much if the store is open. Right now, on the iPhone/iPod Touch, you can write write a productivity app that works offline, is snappy and has a native look and feel: all with HTML5. The only downside is that the performance is not as good as a native app. Not very important for most apps, but it is a problem for graphics apps like games. But given the trajectory of JavaScript performance, do you really think this is going to be an issue for much longer?

HTML5 apps can't be prevented by Apple or anyone else. And they have the added benefit for the developers that they work on multiple platforms.

Further, I actually don't think that the primary target of the iPad is who we think it is. It was announced as a media device because that is the market that Apple has experience with and because the press loves consumer devices (most of them are so dumb that when a product isn't intended for them they claim it is useless). Look at environments like hospitals, industry, etc. where "instant on" is a whole lot more important than speed. The iPad, with the proper software (which won't be installed through a store - this would be managed by the enterprise agreement), would be a major step up compared to the current tablets in use. Health care alone accounts for 17% of GDP; this is likely to grow with our aging population. Do you really think Apple doesn't want part of that market?

Anyhow, point is, it the store is open or closed, it doesn't really matter in the long term.

I think the Acid 2 test is great in all as a way to test if a browser supports CSS well. But it seems as though IE is now targeted at Acid 2... What I mean by that is that, from the few days of playing with IE8 I've noticed a great deal of problems with some really basic CSS (like padding) when in "standards mode". Sites that function perfectly in all modern browsers fall apart in IE8 (Google Maps come to mind). And, it might be just me, but it seems as though the IE team worked very hard to pass Acid 2, not to build a browser that renders CSS correctly and as a result passes Acid2.