The iPad Phenomenon is Underway

The new Apple iPad went on sale in the U.S. this past weekend and early reports are that up to 700,000 of them have sold already.  Amazing.   So far, only Wi-Fi models are available.   The 3G ones (that you can use on the telcom data networks) won't be available for a few months yet.  That means that, right now, you need a wireless network to go online with it.   Neither model will be available in Canada until the end of April and there is still no pricing information available yet.

So, what can you do with them?  Well, you can watch TV programs, watch movies, surf the Internet, do e-mail, play games, and read books.  That's just a start.  All the apps written for the iPhone or iPod Touch will run on them as well as new applications being written specifically for the iPad.  

Do I really need one?   That's the question many people are asking.   Some commentators are saying that it doesn't provide anything that we don't already have (for example, on the iPhone) - just a bigger screen.  Other people are saying it's going to revolutionize our lives.   The truth is probably somewhere in between.  

It's true that if you just think of the iPad as a gaming device or an e-book reader or an e-mail client then you probably will have a hard time justifying the $500 or more it will cost you.

I believe the key determinant in whether it really does "revolutionize" our lives will be in the new applications that we haven't yet envisioned and can't imagine.    Take the iPhone as an example.   Tonight I was out but was able to watch the opening game of the new baseball season live on my iPhone.    You don't have to go back too many years to a point where it would have been difficult to imagine watching a live sporting event on your phone.  Certainly I wouldn't say that has revolutionized my life but the point is to hold off judgement on these new devices until you see how they're used once people get them in their hands and the application developers start to use their imaginations.

Will I buy one?  Yes, I likely will.  But, I'm going to wait a bit.  With the iPhone, they really got it right with the third generation so I will wait until at least the second generation of the iPad before I get one.  That will give Apple the time to work out some of the design flaws and it will give me some time to see how it's used.