According to comScore, Google Android’s share in the smart phone market almost doubled between Q4 2009 and Q1 2010, indicating the proliferation of Android-powered phones in Christmas stockings last year. Indeed, traffic from Android devices to the mobile version of Apartments.com (where I work) saw a similar spike during the month of January alone. Here’s comScore’s breakdown:

1. RIM (Blackberry): 42.1 percent, up 1.3 percent

2. Apple: 25.4 percent, down 0.1 percent

3. Microsoft: 15.1 percent, down 4 percent

4. Google: 9 percent, up 5.2 percent

5. Palm (NSDQ: PALM) 5.4 percent, down 1.8 percent

The rant here, though, is directed at RIM. Blackberry continues to dominate in smart phones, yet their app and browsing experience are so shoddy. And, thus, they are missing out on the tremendous opportunity that mobile browsing and app development presents. In the end, that hurts all of those consumers who use Blackberries and content providers trying to reach them.

Please, RIM, put a little more effort into the browsing and app store and let your channel flourish as it should.

<END RANT>

Now that an official release date has been announced, there are a couple of key points that dampen the iPad excitement. First, and most glaringly to me, is Steve Jobs’ assertion during the product’s unveiling, that there is a gap between mobile device and laptop in need of filling. I would argue that there is no gap, but instead a need for laptops to get smaller and retain (or improve) their power, and by “power” I mean processing speed, storage, battery life, etc. A gap-filling device simply means another device, and that’s the last thing anyone needs (the relatively modest and I believe transient success of Kindle-like readers notwithstanding).

The most successful technology products are often those that eliminate the need for multiple devices, ones that simplify, not complicate, our lives. The iPhone, or more generically any good smart phone, for example, has for many users effectively eliminated the need for separate MP3 players, GPS devices, portable gaming devices, PDAs and, of course, cell phones. To think that some of us can now do with one device what used to take five is the genius of the iPhone and the clarion call of good technology.

So the iPad gets a strike on that count. Today, at least. The lack of portable storage support and a meager 64 GB of maximum disk space proves that the iPad can’t really be considered a serious laptop replacement. But as flash memory capacity increases, as it will, and processors become more efficient, also a certainty, Apple will be in a very good position to be a market leader in tablets. So while today it may have technical deficiencies, Apple can start to learn about usability (as a colleague pointed out, typing on this device while, for example, commuting on a train is going to be a challenge Apple will need to overcome), perfect the design, lock in parts suppliers and, of course, build its brand.

If I didn’t truly believe, long before the Apple announcement, that tablet computing was the future, then I think I’d be smelling a Newton. Instead, we’re probably looking at a not-so-wow-ish first generation product that could grow into something very exciting and profitable for Apple, assuming it eventually becomes subtractive, not additive, when it comes to my list of must-have devices.

<END RANT>