Thoughts and reactions to Apple’s iPad

We hope you won’t mind if we digress from our normal personal finance topics and stories to comment on other timely and important items of interest.  Such is the case this week as Andrew takes some time to share his thoughts on Apple’s recently announced iPad.

Okay, so here’s my confession (if you didn’t know it already): I would consider myself to be pretty much your run-of-the-mill technology nut/geek.  I’m always interested in the latest products in the world of technology.  That being said, I’m reticent to jump on the bandwagon without giving some real thought to the utility of new products, particularly as they relate to my own life and our household.  With that, I’d love to share some thoughts about my favorite debt-free company’s newest creation, Apple’s iPad.

An announcement event

Confession: One week ago today, I took the afternoon off from work so that I could watch TWiT‘s live video coverage of Apple’s special event.  Sounds like a real party, I know, but the reality is that whenever Apple has an event like this, I have real trouble focusing on anything but for that time period and for any number of hours afterward.  And it was a blast.  They were able to grab a live video stream via Skype and so even though Apple wasn’t providing a live feed, I was able to watch Steve Jobs’ presentation pretty much in real time.  It was definitely exciting to watch.

Gorgeous design

The iPad looks really beautiful and continues in the grand tradition of thoughtful and forward thinking industrial design from Apple.  There may have been some missteps in the past (the G4 Cube, among others), but I believe this to be just as, if not more beautiful than iPhone.  I love that it has a brushed aluminum back and although the black bezel around the screen is wider than one might expect, it seems necessary given the e-reader and other functionality of the device.  All reports suggest that the screen is clear and crisp, and that the LED backlighting is really bright.

Perfect category placement

We have been thinking about moving on from our aging iBook G4 (mid-2005 edition) for some time now, and I had been hoping that iPad would be a welcome replacement.  I now realize that was a pretty silly thought process, because there is no way that Apple would want to even risk cannibalizing what is a significant laptop business.  The feature set of iPad is such that it fits a new middle ground of mobile device, somewhere between the smartphone and the laptop.  I’ve been describing it as the kind of thing you’d want to use while sitting on your couch watching TV—a computer that will let you do email, Facebook, and browse the web in a more convenient way that even a laptop can.

On our coffeetable

As we plan our larger purchases for 2010, we’re thinking that this will actually be the device to “replace” our iBook.  Don’t worry, “ol’ Faithful” will still serve a significant purpose: to store all of the music and movies that we’ve amassed, and to be a media server in some cases.  But beyond that, we believe iPad can accomplish 95% of our personal computing tasks, and we expect it will be a lot of fun to use.

iPad + Earn Give Save

I’ll be really interested to see how effective it can be as a blogging device.  I expect that specific blogging tools will be developed to take full advantage of the additional screen real estate.  I also expect the rapidly progressing technology of dictation to become a significant player when it comes to the business of content creation.  Current iPhone apps like Google Mobile (voice search function) and Dragon Dictation are evidence of that.

One thing is for certain. What may eventually become a beloved machine in our household will only be so when we actually have the cash money to plunk down at the Apple Store or online.  We’re not going to go into debt for the latest and greatest toy, that’s for sure.

One other thought that’s even more important—as great as it is, we must always remember that the iPad and any other gadget is just stuff.  Like any other material possession, its important is far overshadowed by our faith, and this should always be our first thought when we contemplate a purchase like this.

Okay, it’s been out for a week now.  What are your thoughts on the iPad?