The Birth of iPad

Well, here we go the iPad! There has been an avalanche of reports and critics about this latest creation from Apple in the last 24 hours. I've not watched Steve Jobs' keynotes yet, but based on what is available on Apple.com, this product looks fine to me. There are many critics of iPad, saying that it lacks of this and that, like a video camera, flash support, background app running capability, etc. All of these sound to be me like when a bunch of kids opening their Christmas gifts and whining about not having Green Hornet, when they already have Batman, Spiderman, Ironman, etc. In fact, people jacked up unrealistic level of expectations of this product prior to its release, and there is just no way they are gonna be satisfied upon the 'birth' of this product.

I think many casual critics have lost sight that it is iPad generation 1.0! It is an infant! Unlike AppleTV or iCube, it will grow up! As a commercial enterprise that spent a fortune to develop a new category of product, it is gonna milk our wallet in every possible way for years to come. Apple is not gonna give us everything even if they can in the first go! Come on.... If they do that, what can they do next year, or the year after? Attach a can-opener to it?!

So, Apple will just take their time, add a camera next year, add another thing the year after, etc. In view of the 'evolution' of iMac, iPod, and iPhone, we can see that iPad is gonna follow similar growing path. So, I guess that people who are cranky about what they see in iPad 1.0 should just chill out and be patient.

I think iPad will kill Kindle and most other e-readers in two years. For netbook, I would say netbook will stay for a bit longer till iPad 3.0 comes out. There are articles out there comparing netbook and iPad 1.0. When the gaps are mostly gone, with the advantages of iPad become more apparent, netbook sales will dwindle as well.

For me, I'm excited of this product, but not yet to a point that I want to get one for myself now. Since I didn't buy my iPhone till its 3rd generation, I would most likely wait till iPad to be few years old before I'm gonna to harvest it.