What makes a successful new product. Also, the iPad.

Finally, we have a device that feels like these devices naturally should: comfortable while the user is doing almost anything, in almost any position. No longer do you have to be sitting at a desk, or have to squeeze your fingers together on a three inch screen.

With the iPad, you can finally use your computer without a mouse or a pen.

I think normal people want to surf the web, write email, organize their photos, listen to music and play games with their computer. Things you can do perfectly with the iPad. They don't want to install anti-virus software or search through folders for their files. The best thing about the iPad is that the ancient desktop metaphor is finally gone.

Don't get me wrong: the iPad could have been better and there are some things missing. But nevertheless this is a very promising start. It's all about the User Interface.

hehe, this video is really great. the ipad i nothing more than a high cost laptop with no power

What is it? Its an extension of the App Store and that alone will make it a success.

I think its funny we start this post of this notion of "finally", granted thats a big marketing doodad etc, but we always seem to build up massive expectations and lose sight of what could simply offer a new experience, no matter no slightly different it may be, it may not live up to our notion of "finally" but does that mean its doomed?

Apple is clever really, they don't want you to make calls on it, they never show you the ability to do that, they're attempting to condition you to view this device differently- they push it as a couch capable casual computing device.

Like any Apple product, it will be loved or hated and Apple thrives on both sides of that result, meanwhile extending the app store to another piece of real estate is the big idea here.

There will be alot of opportunity to explore the new ergonomics of using this thing, the new ux experiences, and how developers break down experiences from web, iphone, and now ipad.

FINALLY! A digital sketchpad!

Another amusing parody which predates the iPad launch (it's actually from 2007) is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjU0K8QPhs&feature=player_embedded

In addition, you might find David Goldes' column, which asks the question "Is this the year of the tablet?", of interest at http://www.basexblog.com/2010/01/27/apples-ipad-is-this-the-year-of-the-tablet/

With the iPad, I can finally do the things I do most on a computer, without thinking about using a computer.

Finally you can have a touch-screen laptopish thingy that makes you feel like you are from the future. Or something.

I have a feeling the Apple eBook platform will be a huge failure, but I do think the "finally" goes to the touchscreen...but probably isn't there fully yet. A touchscreen MacBook Pro would be a finally for me.

FINALLY! A digital sketchbook!

A few things.

Betting against Apple is a sucker bet. Historically, they deliver and succeed most of the time.

Apple sells experience. If you believe anything else you're missing the point. The iPhone wasn't a Blackberry killer or an anything-else killer. It was a just a great smartphone that would appeal a broad group of people. 75 million later, they were right. To those people, the experience of using the iPhone is the value of the device, not the device itself.

Three years I heard all the same arguments used on the iPad about iPhone. Those same people were wrong then and they're wrong now. Allow me to put this in more constructive terms. Often people extrapolate their own experience and needs to be those of a large group of people. Sometimes, they're right. Sometimes they're wrong. iPad naysayers, guess which camp I think you're in?

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I'm not seeing what's so dumb about the name. I understand the reference, and why people *think* it should be embarrassing, but I find it more juvenile than anything else that people think simply saying the word "pad" should elicit some Beavis-esque response.

People don't snicker when they ask for a pad of paper. Football players wear pads, and no one says anything about it.

Perhaps it's the mentality of the iPad being a new "toy", and since toys are associated with children, it makes everyone start behaving like children.

Finally, media will be tangible - http://tangible.media.mit.edu/project.php?recid=48

The new apps will answer your question.

marv: It's $500 for the base. That's not "high cost". A "high cost" laptop is $2000.

What the iPad is, is a device that's smaller and has better battery life than a laptop, does most of the things people do with one (especially with a netbook), does them well and with great UI... and is also a good eBook reader.

It's not "the best possible eBook reader", or "the best possible netbook-sized portable", (let alone "the best possible laptop", since it's not a laptop or even in the laptop market) but it might be "the best portable network device".

If you're thinking "this sucks because it's not a high-powered laptop!", then you're misunderstanding what it is, like complaining that a roadster isn't a pickup truck (or vice-versa).

(Desiring a high-powered laptop with a multi-touch surface is a fine and reasonable thing; it's just unrealistic to complain that this isn't that, when it's not trying to be it, not remotely.)

Finally, a device that lets me read long-form content comfortably, away from my desk.

Finally, my PERSONAL computer.

Carrying it around, storing the data I like to take with me, presenting this data in a comfortable way, even beeing able to create new data and modifying this data in a very easy way.

With the iPad I am finally free to not drag around a strange folding device.

Seriously, I read and write on my laptop in every room of my house, on every piece of furniture.

The iPad disinter-mediates the computer from my viewing and yes, creating experience.

It's not a computer like my MacBook Pro, thank gods! It's a real device for reading and I'm very interested in the productivity angles.

Finally! I am able to use a NetBook without fooling around installing Windows XP on an underpowered machine (for that OS) or learning that geeky Linux thing.

The iPad is Apple's answer to the NetBook. I can see the appeal.

I'd consider getting one, except that I'd want to develop apps for it, and for that I need a MacBook. If I already have a MacBook then I won't be in the market for an iPad as well.

What I'd like to see (and maybe it already exists) is a mass-market iPhone/iPad emulator for the MacBook. Make it part of MacOS, and allow anyone to run it and run any app from the app store on the MacBook.

The iPad allows you to finally truly have a laptop computer. If you've ever surfed the web in your living room, in an airport lounge or anywhere without a desk then this is for you. Laptops with a folding screen are bulky and eventually hot...

I would no longer go to my desk to use a computer to read mail, or browse, or check photos. A laptop is awkward in the living room. However an iPhone display is too small. I think the iPad niche will be massive.

Finally, an easily portable and accessible electronic calendar that I can use in portrait orientation that has a viewing area bigger than my palm, that is rechargeable, that can synch over the web, and can be easily used for a lot of other stuff, like reading books, browsing the web, using apps from the App Store.

For me, I'd finish the sentence with "convince people to build really cool applications for tablet computing." It's the apps, not the pad, that is going to make it cool. The basic technology has been there, more or less, for a long time. I think this was fundamentally true of the iphone as well - we had smartphones before it, and some with touch screens. Without the apps, the iphone is just a nice looking phone in an exclusive relationship with a bad service provider (at least in NYC).

What I found disturbing about Jobs' slick presentation was when he began pushing the eBook capability. No way would I want to read a book on my iMac. Who can read a book on a backlit LED screen without eye fatigue? Seems like using this as a selling point is a sign that Apple is grasping for straws when it comes to cost/benefits.

Finally, a computer both my 85-year-old mom and my 4-year old child can use.

Since the only iPad that most of us have seen is the one in Steve's hands during his demo, isn't it a little premature to speculate about what problems it will solve before it hits general availability?

What I hope it will become is the data pad that we first saw in "2001: A Space Odyssey" - where any visual material (books, newspapers, magazine, videos, personal notes etc.) is available real time.

This is probably a pipe dream as it does not jive with the desire of the large entities involved (media, publishers, AT&T, and yes Apple) to make big bucks off the great unwashed masses.

The iPod is a deal killer for me because it does not offer a subscription option. While Apple could certainly offer a subscription option, that might impact revenue from the iTunes store.

Apple has managed to put itself in an enviable position; their products are touted by fanboys as being inherently superior just because they are from Apple (similar to say Toyota) and because of this they are priced higher than competitive products.

Yes, Apple makes good and often excellent products and usually has superior style when first released - but what it offers is not the end-all be-all and Steve Jobs is not the reincarnation of Leonardo da Vinci.

With the iPad you finally have a book-sized object that can show an indefinite number of books.

With the iPad you finally have a book-like object that you let watch video. (One day a parent will have to tell their kid why a paper-based book does not play video, or connect to the author's website. Our baseline assumptions are going to change.)

With the iPad you finally have a book-like object that contains (access to) an indefinite number of libraries and bookstores.

You forgot that the Kindle only works well books that make no serious use of color, and only works well with the Amazon bookstore. Those two limitations were enough to discourage me.

The iPad is a cumulation of incremental improvements that sum to a quantum jump for the end user. Page-sized displays (the iPad is a touch small), long battery life, and network (almost) anywhere - on a well-done, well-supported platform - the sum crosses a threshold into book-space.

The iPad is the first of a distinct category. Doubtless there will be many similar devices (likely most based of Google's Android) in short order. The technology/price point is only just becoming interesting for this category.

I appreciate, but don't fully agree with, the premise. When the iPhone came out, there were other smart phones that did email, calendaring, and had various apps. And plenty of people were buying them. The iPhone wasn't categorically different, it just did the same things better, much better. Ditto the iPod, it was originally just a better music player.

But Apple takes these common activities (listening to music, reading, reading email, etc.) and allows you to do them in an efficient, intuitive, and pleasing manner. That's a big part of the experience. And I think many of the things we are doing with our iPhones and laptops will be done with the iPad, in a wonderfully pleasing user experience.

Side note: the iPad has all the same books as the Kindle. There's a Kindle app in the app store.

RC - I agree with your take on the iPad. It's just a better way to do some stuff.

Finally, a web browser and email that my grandmother will use. She's played with my iPhone and loves the idea, but it's too small for her. The iPad will be perfect for her to see email pictures of the great-grandchildren and maybe even listen to a song or two.

The iPhone didn't replace Blackberry devices. It was (and is) purchased by people who didn't like those smart phones. The iPad will be purchased by a bunch of people you don't know. It's probably not a "finally" device for YOU. But I bet you give one as a gift, or at least set one up, in the first year it's out.

the iPad is not a laptop, nor is it just a big iPod touch. To me, the iPad, once it matures just a bit, will be the best personal media device sold today. As others have mentioned, it delivers our primary personal media very well: books, movies, music, photos, web, email. It is personal in size, in form factor and balances portable with usable.

What will improve it?
-The ability to use a stylus to sketch or write.
-Good hand writing recognition. More apps written for the larger form factor.
-Seamless access to the huge and growing, library of free books out there. Right now you can use an iPhone app like Stanza which has this access, but it's not seamless with the iTunes store
-Support for Flash (I know the reasons for and against, but right now this is a major limiting factor for a good experience on the platform)
-The ability to "loan" books and music out to friends.

I'd love one, but as with all things Apple, I'll wait a year.

My answer to the question (assuming the improvements) "With the iPad I can finally take my entire library of media with me wherever I go, including my whole library of books, music, photos and movies" (ok, so it would have to have a MUCH larger storage capability, but that's in theory)

For a certain customer base, with the iPad, they can *finally* own an iPad.

I think David is spot on - this is Apple's NetBook.

I've seen many folks who buy a NetBook to read email, browse the web, check facebook, etc. in their living room or in their kitchen, use it for travel, etc. instead of buying a laptop or new computer. It was priced low enough for people to buy a second computer for that "lite computing" reason.

Personally, NetBooks drove me nuts because they just had so many bad executions; cramped keyboards, poor screens, terrible OS, etc. I think Apple is going right at this market (Jobs said so - this is the computer that fits between the portable computer iPhone/iPod Touch and the laptop). All of the "it's just a big iPod Touch" talk is missing the point.

I know personally, if I'm sitting in my living room and want to check my email or look up something, I just grab my iPhone. I used to grab my laptop, but now that sits docked in my office. When I saw the iPad, I said, "Great! This is the machine I want sitting in my living room!" When I travel, I usually don't want to bring my laptop, but I wouldn't hesitate to throw this in my carry on (and add on a 1 month subscription for 3G).

I'm definitely an Apple fan, so my opinion is always tilted toward them, but I think this is going to be a great product. I'm excited to try it (but I'm waiting until at least revision 2 before I buy one).

Jonathan

As several have said, this is the perfect computer for a non-computer person, very often either a small child or an older person. My dad, not very old, but very non-techie uses his iphone to send full-page e-mails. He has a macbook, but every time he tries to do something on it I have to explain to him how to do it, which takes longer than doing it for him. For people like that, this is going to be a great way to access the internet, check and send e-mail, experience media and maybe read a book.

In short, "Finally" a computer that my dad can learn to use.

For those who say the iPad without the App Store would be dead, I seem to remember that the iPhone was hugely popular even before the App Store was opened. It took some people away from Blackberrys, some people away from Palm, me away from a lousy Moto-Q, and many people up from a cell phone to a completely new digital experience.

My macbook is fantastic, but sometimes I don't want to take it out, open it up, get comfortable so I can put it on my lap, and go to work. I know I can close the lid and the battery will last a long time and it will open right back up, but that is still a pain. I can't just set it down and come back later. With the iPad, I can do many of the couch computer activities without actually having to sit on the couch.

When I'm mobile, I use my iPhone for everything, but watching a movie or showing somebody some pictures (I really wish the iPad had a camera) or pulling up a website to show someone or to be able to see myself without squinting, the iPad would seem to do very well.

I don't know if I'll end up owning the Macbook, iPhone and iPad, but I can think of a lot of reasons why I would like to have all three. I'm a pilot, and it would make a great Electronic Flight Bag. I have 6 kids, and I don't like them using my MacBook for fear they will break something. I like to read, but don't like to keep the light on at night when my wife is trying to sleep.

I think the iPad could become the ultimate in handheld computing, especially for someone who travels a lot. I love the 3G option, although I realize that coverage in a lot of places isn't great.

Also, the name thing, like someone else said, it's pretty lame to suggest that the name is too similar to a female product. I can't think of a better name for it.

Finally I can manage my iTunes without hooking it up to a computer.

"pads" that have nothing to do with female hygiene are everywhere.

Brake pads in your car. A crash pad in the city. Pads to scrub the kitchen sink. Pads that you launch rockets from or land helicopters on.

Why is everyone giggling like 12 year old boys over the name iPad?

I love this video- it is so funny. It makes fun of apple so much- yet all of it is so true.

Finally I can touch the internet.