The New Apple iPad – Am I Getting One?

I’m 95% sure that by now, you’ve heard about the new Apple iPad. If you haven’t (how could you not?), you can check it out at Apple’s iPad section.

What I think about it? Well, it certainly looks interesting and I would love to try it out. But I don’t plan on getting one. First of all because it doesn’t do much else than what my iPhone already does, except for it’s bigger screen and the access to iBooks Bookstore, which is also only for US, like most of the movies and TV shows in iTunes Store.

Steve Jobs said in the keynote that it’s a device that fits in between a smartphone and a laptop and that it’s supposedly better than netbooks, which he thinks are just small, cheap and slow laptops.

CNET found 10 things that netbooks do better than the iPad, here’s a summary:

• Video chat
• Run flash on websites
• Programming
• Upload photos from a camera
• Store more than 64GB of data
• Play Facebook games
• Swapping batteries
• Install CD media (or any other than from the App Store)
• Type on your lap
• Upgrade

I can imagine myself using the iPad while in bed in the evenings/mornings to catch up with news, Facebook and e-mail. But hey, I already use my iPhone for that and it does a great job at it – why pay $499+ just for a bigger screen and at the same time, get a device I can’t have in my pocket?

I could also see myself watching movies and TV shows on it, but I have my MacBook Pro for that – which even allows me to watch content that doesn’t have to be in an iTunes friendly format.

A poll over at TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) shows that out of 25,000 votes, over 50% will want an iPad. Now, TUAW readers are most likely – if not Apple followers – then at least tech/gadget freaks. Nothing wrong with that (I am too, such one!). 35% of them don’t see the point of the iPad and just 11% are happy with their Kindle, netbook and iPhone.

Kindle? I love the idea about Kindle. I don’t own one, but I would love to have a Kindle. I didn’t buy one yet because they are quite expensive over here in Europe and I had a feeling we would see a tablet from Apple within the near future. Now that we have seen it, I’m definitely not going to buy a Kindle, I rather get the iPad and read some books in that, instead. Plus all the other stuff that iPad does, that the current version of Kindle does not.

Books (and maybe magazines etc.)  is probably what could convince me into buying iPad sooner or later. That’s the only thing it does better than my iPhone and MacBook Pro. I hate reading long articles on my computer, maybe I will be more comfortable reading them on a tablet (iPad)?

Scott Kelby made a really good point:

It’s going to be huge for a phenomenon that I’ve seen happen again and again, year after year. When Apple comes out with a new product, it always looks pretty cool when you see it in their TV ads, and on the Web,  but when you actually see the product in person at the Apple store, and you get your hands on it—you fall in love with it. Apple stuff just looks incredibly cool in person. It’s Apple’s secret weapon.

And if last quarter was any indicator, when the iPad ships, nearly 50 million (that’s right—-million) people will see an iPad in person at their local Apple Store in the first 90 days after it launches. Yup. This going to be huge!

I guess he’s right. As it seems right now, I’m not getting an iPad. But when I stand in the Apple Store, touching it and tapping on the screen – will I take it with me home? Probably.

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