The IPAD

I don’t get it.  It looks cool and all.  Sleek and tech sexy like any apple device normally does.  But you’re going to have to tell me again who needs this thing.  It barely surfs the web better than an iphone, but not as good as your computer.  It does not use flash which is what almost every good website is built on.  And though it is faster and bigger than your iphone, you have to carry it in addition to your phone.  In order to get 3g connectivity, you have to pay extra hundreds upfront and a monthly fee.  So basically it is a web-optimized computer without flash or active-x. 

You can do computing on it, but is typing on a flat screen going to be as good as typing on a real keyboard?  It might be fun to drag and drop things on a document or on a publisher file, but I can do that with my mouse pretty easily. 

It allows you to read a newspaper, but can’t you go to the newspaper’s website and read it there?  This thing is supposed to revolutionize the newspaper industry and print industry.  What it will do is allow newspapers to have an ipad friendly version and charge for content again.  This shift will push people away from newspapers and onto free news sites online. 

Of course it is a reader too.  So you can read your books on it.  But remember, long term reading on a backlit screen is not good for your eyes.  The Kindle and Nook might look primitive for their e-ink displays, but they are saving your eyes for better longer reading experiences.  Plus, since I already have a kindle app on my iphone and my computer, I can read any of my kindle books anywhere anyway. 

There is no camera for video chat.  The hard drive is small.  It works on apps and not software. 

There is nothing you can do on an ipad that you can not do on your laptop. 

In my mind, save the money that you would spend on the ipad 64gb with the 3g connectivity and get a kindle and a netbook with 3g.  Save yourself $500 and you have two devices that will serve you better than an ipad.