BUT !

…in the last two days i was catching me more then a few times on “mmhhhmm right now an iPad would be nice…”

- client/team meeting – just to show some first designs/sketches/clips …or a lil keynote

- durring render-time checking e-mail, twitter, blogs and so on … what i’m usually doing on may iPhone or Macbook or even sometimes on the FCP MacPro itself …

and in many other small “situations” too

so… do i really need the iPad ?

No i don’t … but it WOULD be really a nice tool to use in some (or many) situations … so maybe if i have some money spare at the release day … i’ll buy it ;)

greetings from germany
michael

BTW, I think the iPad could actually be a very useful writing tool! I like to write by hand and then transcribe what I’ve written to the Mac, maybe I’ll have to change my ways.

Had a day to think over my initial knee jerk reaction to iPad.
For what it’s worth…

1) I want an ipad. (even though I think it’s just another distraction to keep me from writing)

2) Next year at this time I will need an ipad.

3) This is wonderful product for Content Producers – yet another platform to distribute our content.

So all in all I think it’s a positive.

I think it is clear that the iPad isn’t a replacement for _owning _ a cellphone and a computer, but it really could be a frequent and easy replacement for _using_ either of those in so many situations.

Classrooms, hospitals, museums, and boardrooms have all been searching for a long time for a device that was both comfortable AND useful enough to fit their needs. Its not the size or cost of a laptop that makes it too unwieldy for those places, it is all the baggage that comes along with all computers (too much hardware variation, software maintenance, and UI complexity). Although small and simple, cellphones don’t quite make the grade either, because –as our primary communication devices– they are just too _personal_ for use in those human interaction spaces. As a doctor you don’t show you patient their X-rays on your cellphone (despite that sweet medical imaging software that was made for the iPhone launch), nor do you drag your laptop around the ward with you. Same thing for teachers, docents, and businessmen (etc. etc).

I think the most important and overlooked part of today’s news is actually iWork for the iPad. Not only does it look really sweet, but we can finally CREATE something rather than just consume media on the iPhone platform. There may not be much fanfare about it, but the iWork concept will open the eyes of many a developer, and I suspect that much will come out of it. That is likely the primary reason Apple chose to announce the iPad two months before it will be ready for sale.

Although the iPad doesn’t yet come close to matching my ideal notion of a tablet, it does have enough going for it that I am going to give it a thumbs up. I may even find a way to squeeze one into my life.

I’m excited to see how the iPad changes what we’re capable of doing. I really forgot abot 3G when I was writing this article bit you’re right, I’d love to be able to blog from anywhere in a more efficient and dynamic way. Right now I’m responding to your comment from my iPhone, I wish I had an iPad instead, it’d be a lot more covenient and fun to type on.

There seems to be some kind of want for a device like the iPad. Microsoft has been pushing this form factor for almost a decade. Hundreds of these devices have hit the market and then immediately faded away but, yet there is a sense that we still yearn for a tablet device. Why? The concept is cool. We see them in futuristic movies and they seem to work there in that environment. Why don’t they work now… in our current life style?

Simply put… I think we have been waiting for the planets to aline. Or in other words it hasn’t been the right device with the right user interface. What Apple is not showing is the power of the new SDK. I think the real deal is in this new application development platform. I can’t tell you how many times I get frustrated that my iPhone is just a smidgen too small or inconvenient for certain tasks. Surfing the web is one of those tasks. The iPhone is great for quick look ups but having to actually surf the web with it… Painful! I believe new applications will wow us and cause us to open our pocket books. We are judging the device on what we know from other experiences and not by what it’s potential is. Job’s knows… you can tell. they are holding back because it not done yet. It’s still in the oven.

I see and I hope the iPad becomes the replacement for text books for Universities and High Schools. A true multi-media learning experience with video and interactivity. That alone is good enough for me.

I see the iPad as the perfect blogging companion. I’m mean… how easy would it be to post a new blog while on location. This is something very interesting to me. Yes, a laptop can do this too but the iPad is less money and has wifi/3G built in. It just feels like it was made for this.

I can actually go on and on but, I dreamt just 5 years ago before any of this stuff about a PDA type device that would have GPS and video playback capabilities that could be an on location education/touring device. Something also along the lines of augmented reality. I have this interest because of the industry that I am in. Tourism. There’s good money in it. And this device that I dreamt up 5 years ago is here.

The iPhone has been readily accepted based after the model of the iPod. For this reason I believe the iPad will follow suit. And I think the fastest growing demographic will be 55 and older hands down. The Baby Boomers… It’s not coincidence… just perfect timing.