Looking at the opening still of this video, I began to rant to myself about the lame-ness of trying to replicate real world environments on the computer screen, but this “3D” tablet “desktop” goes beyond that and showcases some interesting touch screen innovations (the standard conventions of, oh, two weeks now are just getting so stale).

It will be interesting to see if Google, who just bought the company that developed this interface, will integrate some of this behavior into their tablet project—or maybe make it the tablet’s calling card. Can they syphon attention away from the 800-pound iPad gorilla? Will people be willing to bend their minds around an entirely new set of interface rules just as we’re learning and socializing the first set? I realize it’s slightly crazy to say that after a whole two weeks with the iPad on the market, but too much newness and competing technology can overwhelm the consumer psyche and slow market adoption. It might take a while for a second novel device to gain some traction…then again, Apple cut the ribbon on a bold, new world and consumers willing to experiment may propel a second tablet to market quickly—if it’s mind-blowingly cool and does not feel second rate to the iPad, and if it’s as fun and intuitive (at least, learnable) this seems to be.

The Nexus One was a disaster. With those lessons learned in the product world, a bit of developer backlash in the Apple-verse, Google’s resources (including this BumpTop acquisition) and an excited consumer base frothing for novel, trendy, fun touchscreen tablets, we might soon have a real rival to the 800-pound baby gorilla.