March 16, 2012 - Apple releases the third version of its famed iPad tablet-computer product line today.  As expected, there were lines outside Apple stores, minor protests related to the poor working conditions in the factories that produce Apple products, as well as much conversation on Apple's apparent lack of innovation from the technical and academic worlds.

All in all, the new iPad doesn't sport too many features that aren't already available in other tablets, and certainly doesn't offer any of new-to-tablet features coming later this year when Microsoft moves an entire full-blown operating system to the world of tablet devices in the form of Windows 8.

Whether you are a major Apple fan, or a die-hard anti-Apple advocate, at least one thing can be agreed upon: Apple is learning to not oversell it's devices like in the past.  Remember, this isn't the iPad 3... it's just "the new iPad."

It seems as if the massive lines outside of Apple stores for first day purchases are becoming a left-over cultural phenomenon rather than an indicator of actual technology interest.  A spot at the front of an Apple product release line is one of the last places, along with Best Buy on "Black Friday", where technology nerds of any kind can get societal attention beyond the age old question, "Can you fix my computer?"

The world of capitalism still loves their recent darling of Apple (although, it is to be remembered that Apple once was a black plague of low value), but just how long can the charade of feigned interest in a weak product update be continued?  Once the endorphin highs are all over from having your image in the press as a front-of-the-line customer, what will Apple have left to fall back on now that it is not really innovating anymore?

The world of tablet computing is going to change drastically in the fourth quarter of 2012.  Tablets will begin to take their place as not only a compliment to desktop computers, but a complete obsolescence of stationary computing for some light-to-average computing consumers.  This "new iPad" may very well be the last of it's kind.