This MG Siegler TechCrunch article really clarified Apple’s strategy for me. It makes much more sense here than I was getting from the coverage of Job’s talk. For example, it let me see the connection between the new Lion auto-incremental-save feature (which sounds incredibly useful on its own — I currently use ForeverSave to accomplish much the same) and iCloud: your applications will save invisibly, and will save to an invisible place.

Google’s mental model makes more sense to me: You should understand that you are saving your stuff to somewhere, rather than just have the confidence that they will show up on whatever set of devices you’re using. But my mental models for computing were formed back when computers were computers, not slates of glass that directly respond to the movement of your fingers as if the glass was skin. For those who think of laptops as iPads with non-removable keyboards, Apple’s strategy makes more sense. And the iPad generation is going to win simply by being smart enough to have been born later than me and my laptop buddies.

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