To IPad or Not to IPad?

It seems that technology is changing at warp speed now... this, of course, is not a new concept! Waaaay back when I was at Carnegie Mellon, at the turn of the century, my professors used to quip that "if you can buy it on the market it's already outdated." But truly, they had no idea that in less than 10 years we would be able to walk around with what they try to bill as "mini computers" in our pockets, although so far I'm not totally convinced we have fully reached computer in my pocket status yet.

With Apple leading the way in the revolution of how, when and where we consume media; I contend that the newspaper industry should view Apple as the grim reaper of this diminishing renewable resource right along side the music industry and Blockbuster, and watch out Playstation and Nintendo! Apple has set their sights on you too!

But I digress, as this is supposed to be a pondering of the new IPad more than a commentary on how Apple is single handily reshaping the way we consume media and therefore the companies producing and disseminating that media.

There has been waves of rumors concerning this next revolutionary device Apple plans to launch for years but finally in early 2010 the prophetic Steve Jobs made a product launch presentation for this new device called the IPad that is supposed to be the in-between device of the IPhone and the Laptop. http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1001q3f8hhr/event/index.html

Let me tell you, the presentation did exactly as it was supposed to for many avid Mac fans of wiping them into a frenzy before the March launch but there has been more debate and rumblings over this device than previous launches. Is this really an in between? Does Apple really see users with Laptops and IPhone (or another smart phone for that matter) also paying $499-$829 for this new device? Their answer and also my gut feeling is Y E S! but maybe its a slightly smaller revolution that the IPod or IPhone. The potential for the IPad to again revolutionize the way we consume media is there. The only knock I can see so far, other than the price tag, is that as I understand it the IPad is not a multitask device. You can not listen to music while emailing, surfing the web and using the ereader at the same time. This seems like a critical error and a large issue for anyone, like myself, who has been described as a ferret on crack. I mean is it really that bad that while at the gym I require a TV screen, my IPod and a book to get through 30 minutes on the elliptical?!

So, after having listen to the debates over the past couple weeks and watched the presentation linked above, my conclusion is that since I’m in the business of selling media, my television station should purchase the IPad for me and all the other crackerjack advertising sales professionals who are expected to sell multimedia advertising campaigns for presentations, email, web, etc…. or if I have to buy it myself I might be waiting for generation 2 so Apple can work out the inevitable bugs before I spend my OWN $$.