The lack of flash sucks but isn't that bad, I'd say the iPad has more glaring problems than Flash. Flash is annoying in the sense that you seemingly got no good option outside of windows. Could Apple have done more to get a competent Flash player? I dunno, but from a business standpoint if I assumed that they've been trying for years to get it good on Safari and still aren't happy I could see why they'd be reluctant to try on their mobile platforms. If anyone could make the flash plugin like anyone can make a browser it might not be a big deal but reality may mean that there simply is no good outcome regarding flash and Apple products. If Adobe has to keep their source and has to develop the plugin on their own time and priority we'd probably be disappointed, we're disappointed without it as well, it's just one of those no win situations in most likely hood.
The e-book DRM thing we did already know, although I think this is the first time Fairplay was mentioned, so that's news but not. Regarding DRM on books, I don't think it's as big a deal as it was with music. I of course prefer no DRM, like I assume most here, but most of the big stores have it, it's an almost inevitability. Of the DRM Apple's was probably the best in terms of not being an ass, although B&N's seems kinda cool as well, but no one has to support Apple's store if they don't want to, just buy from another. Unlike the music situation of years ago there actually are options on the book side, even if none of them are ideal yet. But, like I was saying, unlike music I don't think ebooks lend themselves to being on every device you own like music does. I assume most wouldn't want to read a book on their phone, I don't, I'm not going to load it on my music player, I can probably read it on the PC in time through Apple's software. One of two things should ultimately happen and that's a basic monopoly, either some company wins in the book space and all devices have to support it's DRM or the content providers stop pussy footing around and create their own standard AND DRM and make all the competing stores support that, I prefer the latter but I don't see it happening, so whether Amazon, B&N or Apple win's is of no relevance to me, just someone needs to win already.
DRM sucks, but really only because we have so many devices, WMA doesn't work right on Apple, Fairplay didn't work right on WMA devices, linux always got shafted, if there was just one DRM that worked across all platforms it'd be almost as if there was no DRM, but because we have to be cognizant of what DRM solutions each of our devices use it has become a much bigger hassle than it needed to be. I think Apple was more villain than Microsoft in this regard but less so than say Sony was but ultimately they all sucked.
But we're really getting to an age in computing where I think we need less options in devices, operating systems and hardware, kill all the smart phone OS's but one, kill all the desktop OS's but one, kill all the music player OS's but one, just hurry up and consolidate that shit. There's no reason to assume that every content provider is going to support webOS, BBOS, Apple's OS, Android, Linux(and all it's iterations), OSX, Windows and whatever custom OS some device manufacturer comes up with, until we get some consolidation in that space we're always going to be pissed that something doesn't transfer from one device to another. At least Apple is doing that right on their mobile devices, if Apple also controlled the desktop market we'd be in a better position at least in terms of app portability and DRM, maybe not a better spot overall as they're actually MORE restrictive than Microsoft is. God, I wish those two would hurry and meld their strategies together into something better because they're both only half right.