Too many people are comparing the iPad to other pieces of hardware. A nice comparing would be to the upcoming HP Slate or Lenovo Ideapad U1, but often fanboys compare it to the Kindle, Amazon's e-reader. Is that really a fair comparison to make? The Kindle is an e-reader, it has a very basic internet browser, and will soon have apps, now that Amazon has released a Kindle API. But does that really make it a fair comparison? The iPad is Apple's gimped version of a tablet form factor computer. They've not enabled multitasking, which is a dealbreaker for many. There's no Flash, which is sadly still necessary for browsing parts of the web, and you're still tied to the App Store. This simplifies things for many, but also clearly places the iPad behind other tablets which do have multitasking, Flash, and can install programs from any source. It's not meant for serious reading either, otherwise it would have an e-ink screen like the Kindle or Nook, or at the very least a Pixel Qi screen.
So it's a GrannyPad! The perfect device for your parents or grandparents to use. Well, they'll be able to stare at the screen, the apps will be managed by the App Store so you don't have to fear them installing something "bad"... All's good so far. But wait...they still need a computer to sync their iPad too. Also, there's no front-facing camera (at least in this 1st version Steve Jobs presented) so no webcam with the grandkids. Guess the grandparents will have to put up with all that too.
So, the iPad is a device that doesn't do e-reading right, due to its lack of e-ink or Pixel Qi screen. LCD is an eyesore. It doesn't have Flash for consuming free media through Pandora, Hulu, or the myriad of sites out there. So it fails for online consumption of media. It has an iPod, so your only legal option is to buy your shows directly from Apple (or find some other legal channel to download your iPad-compatible media). The iPad does support 720p, so you'll have 2-4GB movie files taking up space in your 16 or 32GB iPad. Just how many movies are you gonna fit in between your music and apps?
The iPad has iWork, so you can do all your 'office' work on its on screen keyboard, which I imagine will give you a bit of neckache after a while, not to mention eye strain. You can use the keyboard dock, but if you're gonna do that, why not just use a laptop or netbook? If you had a stylus and decent handwriting recognition you could perhaps save yourself time and effort.
Maybe I'm being too negative. The iPad does many things you'd need several devices to do, even if it does it poorly. It's certainly not the first device with a tablet format, so let's at least quit the whole "new model of computing" thing Steve is trying to push, ok? Can you at least give me that? I realize I'm rambling even more than usual, but I guess I'm just trying too hard to see the "it" of the iPad. At the very least it'll be interesting to see what Apple does with the A4 chip. Ah! That chip. Maybe that's the only thing worth its beans in this new iPad!
