Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference has always been about giving developers the information they need to build great apps. Along with that, there are some fun events, parties, and Apple Design Awards to stir the imagination of developers. Now, however, Apple’s success in the marketplace has placed immense strain on the WWDC attendees, and only acolyte-fever, for now, can overcome it.

Apple’s Education division has been quietly touring universities around the country, promoting the adoption of the iPad as a learning tool in higher education. The 60-minute seminar covers a number of features of the iPad, as well as Apple and third-party apps that carry great potential for students and educators alike. The seminar also highlights case studies of iPad adoption in universities, sharing the experiences from these early-adopting institutions.

Apple doesn’t generally compete using product specifications. But given that Apple had a year, and it knew big competition was coming, what happened to the iPad 2?

The tablet wars are just beginning. HP won’t ship its touchpad until summer. Apple, it is rumored, will ship its second generation iPad in April. PlayBook and Xoom loom. The game has just begun, but we can still place some bets.

If Apple’s competitors weren’t smart enough to figure out what their customers needed before the iPad came along, why should we believe they know now — even after Apple has shown them the way? Plus, important technical factors weigh against them. There’s no winning.

One might assume that when the iPad 2 ships in, perhaps, early April, the original iPad 1 would be discontinued. One might be wrong.

This is the dawning era of Internet TV: Apple TV, Google TV, and now MS TV. All the while Apple TV was deceptively labelled a hobby, the cable (and satellite companies) appeared to be asleep at the wheel. No longer. Now they’re running scared, and that’s dangerous.

Many high tech services are thrown out to see what sticks, hoping that customers will misjudge the utility and security aspects. Sometimes, the service can slowly boil the customer’s frog into a financial commitment and generate a cash flow.  It’s the new game for tech entrepreneurs.

Rupert Murdoch’s The Daily, a prospective, paid newspaper for the iPad, won’t have to replace all our news sources on the iPad to be successful.  It merely needs to appeal to people who want a simpler, better informed life.

Apple may not have figured out how to convert the Apple TV from a hobby to a consumer firestorm, but the company is thinking along fabulous lines with AirPlay.  AirPlay creates a giddy sense of the magical, while Google TV bogs us down with a keyboard and a browser. What a contrast in philosophies.