In a previous post, I admitted to the fact that I was ignorant of or perhaps merely immune to the magic of the iPad.  Since that time, through a series of discussions with people who do get it I have come to understand the magic of the iPad and also why it holds no such power over me.  

Essentially, the iPad is a media consumption device.  It is for those who consume movies, videos, music, games, puzzles, newpapers, facebook, MySpace, magazines, You Tube and all of that stuff available on the web but do not have a requirement for lots of input (typing or otherwise).  You can tap out a few emails, register for a web site but, really, it’s not a platform for writing documents, developing presentations, writing code or working out problems and doing analysis.  That is unless you buy a few pricey accessories.

The pervasive (well, at least around here) iPad billboards really say it best.  They typically feature casually attired torsos reclining, with legs raised, bent at the knees to support the iPad.  These smartly but simply dressed users are lounging and passively consuming media.  They are not working.  They are not developing.  They are not even necessarily thinking.  They are simply happy (we think – even though no faces are visible) and drinking in the experience.  You are expected to (lightly) toss the iPad about after quickly reading an article, keep it on your night stand for those late night web-based fact checks, leave it on your coffee table to watch that old episode of Star Trek at your leisure or pack it in your folio to help while away the hours in waiting rooms and airports.

But this isn’t me. I am more of a developer.  Certainly of software, sometimes of content.  I like a full-sized (or near full-sized) real keyboard for typing.  If I need to check something late at night, my cell phone browser seems to do the trick just fine.  I can triage my email just fine on my cell phone, too.  So, I am not an iPad.  At least not yet.  But if it really is only a consumption platform then not ever.  But one never quite knows what those wizards in Cupertino might be conjuring up next, does one?

My world is about to change but I fully admit that I don’t get how. That’s right…everything changes this Saturday, April 3rd when the Apple iPad is released. Am I the only one who looks at it and thinks of those big button phones that one purchases for their aging parent? Yes, I know Steve Jobs found the English language lacking sufficiently meaningful superlatives to describe it. And, yes, I know there will be hundreds of pre-programmed Apple zombies lining the streets to collect their own personal iPad probably starting Friday evening. But, I don’t understand why I would want an oversized iPhone without the phone or the camera or application software or a keyboard and why and how this gadget will change civilization. Don’t get me wrong, I know it will. But I don’t see how the iPad will revolutionize, say, magazine sales. Why would I buy Esquire for $2.99 when I get the print version for less than $1 and throw it out after reading it for 30 minutes (full disclosure: I am a subscriber – I admit that freely)? I also know I can’t take the iPad to the beach to read a book because it will get wet, clotted with sand and the screen will be unreadable in sunlight. But, I’m sure the iPad will be a huge hit. And I’m sure my life will change. Just tell me how. Someone…..please….?