The Apple iPad 2 announcement was preceded by a long video which exalted its benefit to society and more pathetically, spent time digging into the competition. One slide branded 2011 as the 'year of the copycat' and another mocked the Android app store figures. Apple are doing themselves a disservice here.
As I've written before, it seems strange to me why Apple are so aggressive and using such propaganda. I can only assume it is due to feeling threatened or to generate a tribal feeling of us vs them amongst their customers. It really is bizarre considering how well Apple is doing!
The fact is, the iPad 2 has probably been released earlier than planned due to the very large numbers of Android-based tablets available or soon to be available. Apple, for the first time, had to play catch up or be seen to sell inferior hardware to the competition. Alien territory for them indeed.
Likewise, the iPad didn't have several years to acquire market share before the onslaught of the Android competitors and so its dominance is far less assured.
In my opinion, Apple would do better to simply ignore the competition as if they are an irrelevance. Attempting to sway opinion with the use of such underhand and petty tactics should be beneath them. Lowering themselves to these levels can't help their brand as Google, Samsung, Motorola, etc. will no doubt swiftly respond and gain a lot of publicity off the back of it.