Happy With The iPad

First the good news. The iPad has finally arrived and consumers can finally see what Apple's tablet can do. Its price tag is extremely reasonable, starting at under $500 and it meets the basic expectations for e-book reading, music listening, and video watching. The bad news is that it looks like an oversized iPod and still requires connection through the AT&T platform. So how will consumers react?

I understand it lacks a camera; not sure that is a big deal. It has carved out another e-book niche that could allow them to sell books through their itune platform. And that may give Kindle a reason to worry. "Mr. Jobs said Apple so far had relationships with five major publishers — Hachette, Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan — and was eager to make deals with others. Publishers will be able to charge $12.99 to $14.99 for most general fiction and nonfiction books." That according to today's New York Times.

For me, I am not an early adopter. I always expect that the first generation has too many limitations and future editions come too quickly. Apple is a perfect example of this with their iPod, iPhone, and other devices. I expect by end of year, iPad 2.0 will be at least 2x better. Second, the name lacks appeal; I guess all the other i(name) were taken. Damn you IHOP! Still, couldn't they find a jazzier name: iTab, iLet, or iHmm, to name a few. And lastly, what happened to the Verizon deal? I'm guessing that Apple still had to wait for it's AT&T exclusive to expire. For me, I think I will wait, too.