Lots of hype, then lots of confusion (sound familiar?), and a collective “Meh.” from techies everywhere. Thus was the arrival of Apple’s iPad.

“It's much cooler in person.“

I was no different, and to the uninitiated, I resemble an Apple Fanboy. I use only Macs, I predominately use Apple software, and I even carry an iPhone. Heck, Uncle Steve’s even convinced me to pay a ridiculous amount of money for MobileMe, something I could easily get for free.

So naturally, I wanted so badly to love the iPad. When it launched, and I looked over its list of features (and lack thereof), I joined in on the collective “Meh” and found myself disappointed and unaffected. What is the iPad, if not a giant iPhone that doesn’t make calls? (or, more practically, a giant iPod Touch, though nobody seems to be drawing that comparison for some reason…)

Of course, this was before I touched one.

Last night, I found myself in our local Apple Store, standing for quite a long time at one of two very large tables at the front fully loaded with iPads to spare. Granted, this can’t be a full review, because I spent a little less than an hour with the device, but I’ll at least give you my reasons why I no longer think the iPad is stupid:

• Um, it’s cool. There were MP3 players before and after the iPod. There were smartphones before and after the iPhone, and there were tablet PC’s before and after the iPad. But the iPad’s cooler. Sorry.
• It blows Kindle and other e-readers out of the water. Keep your E Ink.
• Gaming’s better. Than the iPhone. Than the PS Portable. Than Nintendo DS. It’s better.
• The user experience rocks. It’s easy to use like just about everything else that Apple develops.

Now, I can hear tech heads exploding everywhere. “What about THIS?” and “What about THAT???” Let me explain something to you, Tech Heads: Cool wins. Every single time. Users will always prefer something beautiful that does a few things well than something bland that does a million things incredibly well. Apple has proven themselves the masters of developing cool products. Make fun of it. Hate it. It doesn’t matter….cool wins.

Everyone jumped on the personal computer train when Apple got into the game. Everyone jumped on the MP3 player train when Apple got into the game. Everyone jumped onto the smart phone train when Apple got into the game. And I’ll be willing to bet just about anything that with the iPad, tablet PC’s will become more and more ubiquitous.

Will they all be iPads? Of course not. Someone will figure out a way to do it in a more cost-effective way and sell to the masses. But I still believe (now) that the iPad is here to stay.

Why do you love/hate the iPad? Can you think of any practical uses for it?

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Comments ( 2 )

I made fun of the iPad until I saw these videos of a dear 6-year-old friend of mine with Methylmalonic Acidemia. Talk about a practical use…

Lauren added these pithy words on May 14 10 at 23:47

Okay, so those videos are COOL. In all caps. And a much more practical use for one than my own “I could watch movies at the dinner table.” reason for wanting one now.

Dan added these pithy words on May 15 10 at 10:51

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