Apple wins the top prize for being master of the tease. Few other marketers can summon such mammoth interest in an electronic device that?s neither phone nor computer, neither cheap nor practical. And yet.

The genius of Apple is that it has replicated with the newly launched iPad tablet what it has got down pat for previous products such as the iPod in 2001 and the iPhone in 2007, followed by the App Store in 2008.

When was the last time a consumer product saw people camping outside the store 24 to 48 hours ahead of launch date?

When was the last time the media stampeded to offer blanket coverage to a device that had yet to stand the test of use or even preview?

When was the last time ? in this recession ? that any product garnered such attention away from serious issues including job creation and national security?

It is a pity that Steve Jobs doesn?t have the top job.

Because if he were the nation?s president, Mr. Jobs could do to the United States what he and his team have done for Apple Inc.: develop an innovation engine that creates anticipation, generates enthusiasm, engenders loyalty and delivers topnotch product.

Razor-sharp focus
Singing hosannas is not in the style of this writer. But the world has to hand it to Apple that this company consistently redefines the digital experience, be it through hardware, software, content, commerce or marketing.

The iPad, as the critics have pointed out, has several flaws. It doesn?t run Flash or multiple applications. It is not easy to type on, say, like a laptop. And it is expensive given that it only runs applications and the regular Web.

Those criticisms, however, are just not valid. Because critics are viewing the iPad as a cross between the smartphone and the laptop. It is neither.

As a tablet computer, the iPad just may have revived a category long moribund. The previous tablets were simply tinkering with hardware. Apple tinkered with software, creating a whole new frenzy around applications for the iPad.

Indeed, it is not the iPad device that?s the prize ? it is the revenue from the hundreds of thousands of applications created for that device, locked and unique to the Apple ecosystem. It is the potential of downloads, mobile advertising on applications and revenue shares from sales of movies, music, software, books and media.

Apple, in effect, has learned from Procter & Gamble?s Gillette: create and upgrade the subsidized razor, win the loyalty of its target market and then keep them coming back for refill blades year after year, life-stage after life-stage.

For Apple, the iPad is the razor and applications are the refill blades. The iPod with its songs from iTunes and the iPhone with its songs and applications from the App Store are cut from the same philosophical cloth.  

Category, not product
What most critics and industry observers don?t realize is that Apple no longer seems to believe in creating new products in old categories. It is creating new products in new categories.

And that is what sets Apple apart from competitors such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Microsoft, Samsung, Nokia, Toshiba, Sony and Nintendo. These marketers are set on refining products in existing categories. Apple is interesting in refining categories. Google is the only other marketer which comes close to Apple in its line of thinking.

Yes, there may be limitations in the Apple iPad ? but only when viewed as a laptop.

As an entertainment device, if Apple keeps up the momentum, the iPad is set to redefine the mobile device world yet again with an operating system that?s beyond easy to use and an interface that should have been industry standard a decade ago.

While Apple will not tip its hand to the future, it is not hard to imagine how the iPad could lead to a mobile gaming device that is one better than the Nintendo Wii or the Microsoft Xbox.

Or imagine Apple?s second take on television after the failure of Apple TV. There is something to be said for the right product at the right time at the right place. So there is no reason why Apple couldn?t come up with a DVR that?s better than TiVo or those supplied by the cable operators.

Twins: Innovation and marketing
Apple is set on changing the way consumers interact with content and commerce on digital devices. And it is using the three best tools in a toolbox: a well-designed product that makes life easier for consumers, marketing that gets the message across effectively and demonstrably, and enough tease-and-taunt that keeps the media and chattering classes in thrall of what is essentially a brilliant public relations campaign.

Whether the iPad succeeds or not on the scale of the iPod or iPhone models, only time will tell. But marketers can learn from Apple?s handling of a product launch.

What Apple has mastered is the obsession over a fine product, disciplined marketing to create the need and PR to continuously fan the flames of desire.

No reason why this strategy cannot be exported to other categories when the most successful mobile marketer of them all ? Apple ? has succeeded not once but three times in the past nine years.

It goes to the credit of the mobile business that one of their own is leading the pace of innovation. Indeed, may we be cheeky enough to offer a new tag line to Apple? The Ultimate Innovation Machine.

For those not yet convinced, it is key to remember that Apple is not bent on creating a better smartphone or better laptop. It is determined to create a better Apple product. And it need not target the whole solar system for mass was never its strategy, but just the one planet that matters: Earth.