iPad first thoughts

So, it appears to be an ebook on steroids. Not really a computer, and definitely more than an iPod. My initial reaction: not bad.

I was hoping it would have a more robust operating system than the iPod and iPhone, but it appears to be running the same style OS. So, no multi tasking. But that does mean all the apps that currently available for the iPhone platform run here.

I think the killer app market is the college market. If I were a college student I would be praying for textbook publishers to get my books in the iBook format ASAP. Imagine carrying around a 1.6 lb device you can also use to take notes and email assignments. My spine is still maladjusted from higher education. I can also envision a future where textbooks will include video, Flash (but not until Apple supports it on the iPad/iPhone platform), and music.

The other day I was looking forward to an end of wild speculation over the iPad. That was a bit premature. In the absence of the physical experience, the blogosphere will be alight with continued, albeit slightly better informed, speculation. Until they are available in stores to fondle and monkey with, there really isn't a good sense of the "magic" Apple is claiming this device possesses. If the experience of actually holding the thing compares to what it was like holding an iPhone for the first time, I imagine there will be a magic moment.

Clean Slate

Everyone and their dog is talking about the Mac slate computer that does not yet exist. The best analysis I have yet heard belongs to NPR's program "Marketplace," which described tablet PCs by describing a prop from Star Trek: The Next Generation – the PADD.

I am quite skeptical of all the "information" as to what Apple's new tablet computer will be. The iPhone rumors didn't do justice to the game changing nature of the iPhone, so perhaps the Mac focused media is trying too hard to establish the new device's potential. Only two days remain until the announcement. Frankly, I can't wait. Not because I'm excited about the iPad/iTablet/iSlate/iCarumba, but because I'm excited for the speculation to stop.