50under50

Now that the iPad is official, there’s some serious debate going on about if this is the right name (sounds like a feminine product) or product people want (no Flash support, built in camera, etc…). Is Steve off his rocker or is Apple the company that has captured the cultural zeitgeist? Admittedly, I’m a Apple fanboy (some might say a nut hugger, pardon the expression). My summation of the iPad– awesome! The only question for me is to 3G or not 3G?

Why do I think this will be a huge hit? It’s perfect for people who travel. I have both an iPhone and a laptop and I’ve been holding off on buying a dedicated media player like the Archos 7 media tablet (7″ screen) for such occasions. With the iPad, I can ditch the laptop as my in air entertainment device. This thing is light at 1.5 lbs, and with a 10 hour battery, will last as long as most places I’m going. I can play games. With it’s gorgeous 9.7″ LED display, the iPad is a gigantic gaming platform, one in which new kinds of games will be created for. I can read books. Gone are the multitude of books and magazines (down the line) that I tote with me. Admittedly, it’s not as easy on the eyes as e-ink, but you get so much more: full color, video and animation. It’s backwards compatible with all iPhone apps. That’s pretty amazing, but the best is yet to come when developers start developing specifically for this platform. In essence, Apple has created another open platform for which countless of apps will be created for which Apple did not intend. It will be up to the imagination and ingenuity of the millions of people out there to exploit the full potential of the iPad. And, I have to mention the form factor. Imagine being able to pull your monitor off it’s stand and taking it with you. On top of that, you can flick, pinch and swipe our way through the web and the other apps that Apple has so thoughtfully designed.

Is this thing perfect? No. But neither was the iPhone. Like many things that are ahead of it’s time, there are people who will question the iPad and hem and haw. My guess is that when you see this thing in action and in your hot little hands, that ice wall will start to melt. It’s magical! How many devices can you say that about?

iBooks seems >ahem< reminiscent of some other things, but how many ways are there to display books on a shelf?

Some accessories.

Want another opinion? Read Cnet’s editor’s take on it.

Read Ross Rubin’s Switched On via Engadget:

When Apple introduced the iPod in 2001 — some 250 million units ago, as Steve Jobs noted — it began with a laser-like focus on digital music. Swap out a hard drive and FireWire port for a cassette collection, and the product was clearly the reinvention of the Walkman. The first Switched On in 2004 pondered the iPod photo as a stepping stone to video. And by 2007, the iPhone and iPod touch had become capable of playing a broad array of content and would soon be able to extend their capabilities dramatically via apps.

Nonetheless, while the iPhone and iPod touch were nearly as close cousins as the 3G and non-3G flavors of the iPad, they were each rooted firmly in the existing categories of smartphones and MP3 players and positioned against products in that space. Despite its limited app support, nobody thinks of the Zune HD as a handheld tablet; it’s a digital media player that competes against the iPod touch. Continue reading…

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