It was Apple's Steve Jobs who coined the phrase "post-PC era" to help his iPad marketing push, but at least one analyst thinks Microsoft and Intel can combine forces to push back Apple's dominance in the tablet arena. How? By not making tablets. EarthWeb's Rob Enderle feels that history has shown how it makes little sense to try to compete with Apple on anything once it has 10 percent market share. Examples: iPod, iPhone, iPad. Instead, he says, Intel should focus on equipping powerful "Ultrabooks" that will run Microsoft's totally revamped Windows 8. The result: a touch screen and keyboard-equipped machine that has tablet-like feel but full computing power, and can be a content creation product, not just a content consumption product.

Intel is preeminent in notebook computers, and they have chosen the Ultrabook configuration over tablets as their major push back against the iPad. This isn’t to say they won’t have pure tablets too, just that they recognize that touch screen-only products have severe content creation issues and people don’t want to have to carry both an iPad to consume stuff and a laptop to create it. Users don’t want to carry two or three products—they want one device. And while Intel and Microsoft are approaching this market differently, their technologies will dovetail nicely. It is worth watching the Windows 8 demo because it is beautiful on the screen…This may be the first product that truly bridges the touch screen, keyboard, and mouse.

Once the commotion dies down around Apple's WWDC dies, it's back to competition… and innovation.