Although there are arguably better products out there, the stains on the sleeve are still there, and it's time for some revolutionaryinnovation that will truly change the computing experience.
But the Nexus 7000 really gets interesting, says Yankee Group analyst Zeus Kerravala, when it's combined with another revolutionary IT innovation: virtualization.
Worse still, Mr Cowen reckons that the gains from two centuries of rapid technological innovation are largely exhausted, and that new discoveries lack the same revolutionary quality.
Each of these companies has more relevance to modern-day innovation than the clunkers we sent into space, and they all produced revolutionary innovations without government assistance.