Many have claimed that the iPad will launch a new war between Apple and the PC companies of the world. Based on what I have seen early on, even before the iPad’s release, these claims appear to be spot-on. Today, the Cape Cod Times reminds us that the iPad is but the tip of a much bigger iceberg. The fact of the matter is there is a war brewing that has drawn in some big names from the tech world.

The biggest battle that is yet to take place is really expected to be with Apple’s iPad and the Google Android-powered tablet computers. Anyone seriously thinking that Windows matters is this space need only look back at the Tablet PC Edition of Windows XP. It was a huge flop and now Apple has managed to re-kindle a previously dead concept with the idea of their iPad device. It’s the same basic idea that we saw in 2005, but this time it’s being done with the iPhone operating system and an app store for software, something that Microsoft failed to wrap their heads around back then.