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A key factor will be disassociating highly personal information & configuration from the hardware. One subversive marketing point of the iPad/iPhone is how it ties so tight to a single user. With something disposable, cloud integration will become important, making the hardware fungible to the user.

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If you use iCloud backup on your iPhone/iPad then you can set up a new iPhone/iPad quickly with all your personal data and settings without connecting to a computer or the old device. So you can already drop your hardware in a lake and not mind, as long as it's been backed up recently. (Which it probably hasn't been if you're vacationing at a lake.)

You can also remote-wipe lost hardware to prevent others from getting your personal data off of a discarded device.

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