Some thoughts about the iPad

As I had correctly guessed, Apple enters the ebook market with its iPad introducing big competition to the Amazon Kindle. Unlike on the Kindle, though, users can consume more kind of contents than just eBooks: movies, music and applications. The iPad is coming out next Month, and I have thought about whether or not I'm getting one.

The iPad is advertised as a multi-purpose device for consuming and experiencing purchased content and the internet; Alex calls the iPad a "cynical .. digital consumption device". But as many 
have pointed out the iPad just seems like a bigger version of an iPhone/iPod touch (Have a look at this funny depiction). So I asked myself is it really worth the purchase? What is it that it can really do better than a notebook or a smartphone?

According to Steve there are many things that the iPad does really better; for me there is only the advantage that, due to its larger screen real estate, reading gets much more comfortable; this includes eBooks, as well as articles or documentation from the Internet. Other than that I am pretty sure, that a smart phone suffices my mobile connectivity needs, and a notebook my needs for getting some serious work done.

Unfortunately the battery supposedly lasts only (or until up to) 10 hours, which might be an annoyance if you use the device primarily for reading. So wouln't one be better of with a Kindle, if reading was one's primary use case. Unfortunately, the Kindle only has a monochrome, non-touch display and is a "consuming machine" itself. So reading your papers or PDFs is as far as I know not possible.  And the  Kindle is not really cheaper than the iPad.

Just looking at the technical and sexy attractiveness, the iPad clearly beats the Kindle hands down. But as a personal computer it lacks one quality trait: openness (see Alex). As on the iPhone there will be probably "root" hacks, that allow will allow me to tinkle around on the device. But doesn't change anything on the  Apple's iPad policy. I'm still not sure I wanna get an iPad when such great Apps like Stanza are "censored" maybe making me only buy books from Apple's own bookstore in the near future. But maybe the reading experience on the iPad just beats every other eBook reader. Let's see.