• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, February 23, 2012

Taking the podium, morning keynoter Jon Haber, chief innovation officer, OMD, points out that the role of tablets was prefigured in a series of articles in Wired in 2010, before the iPad hit the market. What makes a tablet unique? It’s in the design and user experience—a more intimate device than a PC. He notes that touch manipulation is an ancient behavior, making tablets intuitive for all ages, even toddlers.

But he promises there’s a lot more we can do than just poking pinching and swiping. So we’re like high-tech cave painters? Haber says the browser and traditional Web site is on the way out, with HTML5 paving the way to app-like experiences in digital media.