The iPad… hmmm

Well, after months of rumor and speculation, it finally got announced last night… Apple’s iPad.

But right from the get-go, sadly, I’ve found the whole thing totally underwhelming. I was expecting this thing to be totally awesome and to totally blow my world apart like the iPhone did… but sadly not so much.

Firstly is the name. I was really disappointed that they called it iPad. It is just too close to iPod. Period.With so many people out there, all with different and unique accents, I can so see myself having to clarify iPod and iPad at least once. 🙁

In addition, as per the Twitter feed, I’ve noticed a lot of people think it sounds very much like a tampon name as well, which definitely isn’t helping (Possibly the Wii all over again XD)
I’m not sure what the branding marketing strategy was behind that, but it failed. Epically. The rumored name that was floating around ‘iSlate’ sounded so much cooler, and definitely did not suffer any of the above problems. XD

Secondly is the hardware. Even if the iPad is just a glorified giant iPhone, it’s missing half the hardware features and functionalities of the iPhone. Things we take for granted like a camera,  as well as things that make sense like USB ports are just missing. Overall, the hardware is just lacking.

And lastly…. I have no idea what I would do with one. I already have an iPhone, and a laptop… so all of my basic functionality is covered. The only potential application I can see for it is reading e-books on a larger screen (Which is impossible on iPhones and clunky on PCs). But if I really wanted an e-book reader, chances are I’d be better off with an Amazon Kindle.

So my overall impression at the moment is a resounding ‘meh’. It definitely looks pretty, and I hear it handles a lot snappier, but at the moment, there’s not much compelling stuff to want to buy one.

I’ll keep an open mind out though. It’s possible that once iPad specific software starts to come out, this might change everyone’s mind. I for one would probably instantly go out and buy one if they make an app that replicates the Star Trek PADDs perfectly. XD

In any case, what do you think of the iPad? Are you going to get one?