Dollars to doughnuts say I am wrong, but I just can’t get that excited about the iPad.  First of all, the name… I think iPad stands for “incredibly Poor apple decision”.  But that’s just my opinion (along with about a thousand tweets to the same effect).  Don’t get me wrong, the technology is elegant, slick and everything you would expect from Apple.  I love that aspect of it and can’t wait to try one out.

But there’s just something about the iPad that I can’t wrap my mind around and get excited to the point where I want to rush out and by one on March 27th.  Sure, the price is very attractive, even at the high end.  But still, that’s not enough to get me over the hump so to speak. Here’s what I think Apple faces with the iPad…

• The iPod, iPod touch and iPhone brought us “intimacy”. What I mean is that you can hold these devices “close to your chest” and pick and flick (ugh… bad connotation… let’s go back to point and click) to your heart’s content, and then share with your friends as you desire. The form factor, especially the iPod touch and iPhone were large enough that the experience was fine as long as it was limited to 2-3 participants. In the iPad demo video, the device is flipped over to show a great looking image of “your kids”. Maybe I am wrong, but somehow I just don’t see settings where the iPad is used as a show and tell device. So just like any other tablet device, you lose that sense of intimacy –  the device is out there for the whole world to see, whether you want them to or not.
• The device isn’t a “laptop”, but it’s a “lap” device nonetheless.  You can hold it in one hand and point and click with the other, but if you want to do any serious work then it has to go in your lap.  Maybe that’s ok when you’re at home lounging on the sofa, but on a plane or in the office or in the restaurant, hmmm… not so sure. The back looks to have a sleek curvature design, but I don’t know how well this will work when you lay it on a flat surface. Seems like it will probably want to move around too much to be useful in that mode of operation.
• A nice big QWERTY keyboard, that for all practical purposes is not very useful.  Notice, I said PRACTICAL – such as composing long emails, writing letters, blog entries, etc.  I know, I know… this is a new model of user interaction and typing should be limited to about 3% of how the product is used.  But when you are serious about doing some typing you will need to invest in the iDock.  Probably not a very expensive investment, but another one that adds to the cost.  End result, you have turned your iPad into a notebook/desktop… bummer.
• A few technical/feature/function “gotchas”… No Flash support.  So how does the iPad provide the “ultimate” web-surfing experience if it doesn’t support Flash? One will assume that this will be corrected in V2.0. Can only run one application at a time – not a “biggy” but still seems to draw a lot of complaints from the anti-Apple people. No camera/web cam. Will be interesting to see if this one gets fixed in V2.0.  It may be one of those that Apple decides not to incorporate. And what about USB, OLED (can understand the cost issue and poor outdoor quality on this one),  GPS, and 16:9?  Where are all those other things that will make this the ultimate device…?  Other than these few little “issues”, the technology is kick-ass.
• 64GB?  Well, that should be enough for most people.  But for the serious gamer, iTuners and iBookers this may cause a problem.  But this will be short-lived and I am sure Apple with introduce a 128GB or 256GB version in the near future.  Wow… and we used to talk about 640K and stuff like that…
• Lastly, I’m a little worried that the form factor is too elegant and lightweight.  How can that possibly be you ask???  We all complain that laptops weigh too much – but with that weight comes a sense of insecurity.  We hold onto our laptops because we know if we drop them life is over as we know it.  My fear is that the iPad almost takes that sense of insecurity away and you may become somewhat careless with it.  This is probably a far-fetched phobia (iDropaphobia?) on my part, but I know that I get distracted and careless way more than I should… and I would surely hate to drop such a beautifully designed work of art.  I am sure the Apple designers have thought about this and designed it to be highly durable.  But… please hold on to it so I can sleep at night…

Despite all these things, I think the iPad is a game changer in that it extends the concept of personal computer to where it should be – a device with a truly usable interface that gives me “stuff” that I want and can use the way I want to use it.  Something laptops and tablets have not been able to do.  So on that front, congratulations Apple for a job very well done!

Still, there’s just something nagging me. And I think it’s going to take more than just the device to make it a hit. Just like iTunes made the iPod successful, and the App Store made the iPod touch and iPhone successful (come on now… agree with me – the iPhone is a slick device, but without the apps it’s just another phone…), I think there is going to have to be something that makes the iPad successful. Obviously iTunes and the Apps Store are already there, but are they enough? If I’ve already got and iPod and an iPhone, do I really need an iPad? Is playing games or watching movies at a higher resolution enough to make the iPad successful? Or will it be the addition of iBooks? Some of the early feedback indicates that Amazon Kindle, B&N nook, Sony READER and other users aren’t going to abandon their toys for the iPad, and the question is, how big is digital book market? Big enough to support multiple players? I don’t know. But the iBooks interface is so slick and sexy that it might just woo enough users to make the move. Dang, those people over at Apple sure know how to do great designs…

Only time will tell if the iPad will be successful. I think the hype was so high on this one that it will be hard to maintain.  So back to work everybody.  But I’m anxious to see if in six months I’m counting my money or eating stale doughnuts…