Steve Jobs Presents: The iPad

At Exactly 1pm last Wednesday, Steve Jobs revealed the newest apple device, the iPad. Jobs put together a lengthy presentation demonstrating all the features of this new device, and needless to say it was compelling. It has a sleek touch screen interface with amazing web browsing, video, photo, and gaming capabilities. I also predict, the iPad will become an almost unrivaled device for reading e Books. It comes with WIFI capabilities, HD video, 3d maps, and is compatible with mobile 3G internet. All this in one device starting at $499, it is easy to see the iPads appeal.

Although Steve Jobs does a great job presenting the iPad, to me it seems like little more than an unneeded gadget. I own both an iPhone, and a laptop (granted, my laptop is a piece of junk), and I can do just about everything the iPad can do with those two devices. To me the iPad is basically a souped up version of the iPhone, and although it certainly is nice to look at, my iPhone can do pretty much everything the iPad can, and it can fit in my pocket. My laptop is used mostly for school work and browsing the internet, and although I do like the idea of 3G mobile internet, my laptop seems like a superior device for school work. The only feature of the iPad that may surpass my laptop is it's e Book feature, which is a cheaper alternative to buying print text books, and has a superior interface to my laptops for reading print.

Again, the iPad does look like a really cool device. I loved the Google maps street view, the photo's application, and obviously this device has superior hardware to the I-phone. The gaming looks amazing on it as well. The problem is I see no practical use for it if I already have a smart phone and a laptop. Also, I'm very surprised that there are no camera's included in the iPad. I guess it doesn't matter how well the iPad "just works", because I personally don't see any real practical use for the device. Obviously there are thousands of people out there who were blown away by the device however, so I wouldn't doubt it's success.