The iPad Is No Laptop Killer

The iPad

The iPad is an important addition to the computing experience ecosystem, touch is an important addition, touch on a bigger screen than what a smartphone offers is important, but the iPad is no laptop killer. The iPad is a high end product designed to do a limited number of things.

The real story here is Steve Jobs. The man is a living legend. He has had a fascinating life story. After weeks and months of all the strong, inescapable buzz around the iPad I found myself leaving this phrase as my comment at several blogs: Steve Jobs, The Pied Piper. The guy's pull is magnetic. He sure has charisma.

I have never to date bought an Apple product, but I use many Google products. The company that has me gushing is Google. I am more of a web person. Talk of HTML 5 excites me. I can't wait for the Chrome OS, Chrome browser combo to show up later in the year. I would want that piece of hardware. Even on the smartphone front, I find myself leaning towards the Nexus One. (The iPhone, Nexus One, Or Droid?) I might get a Windows 7 laptop in a few weeks, it will likely be a Toshiba.

Mother, it is no gain, thy bondage of finery, if it keeps one shut off from the healthful dust of the earth, if it rob one of the right of entrance to the great fair of common human life. (Tagore's Gitanjali)

I am a Sam Walton, Michael Dell, 99 cent pizza kinda guy, as far as business models go. Take me where the masses are. Good enough is often good.

Wired: The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine

That space between the PC and the smartphone is not the iPad. Pluto is not a planet.

Cory Doctorow: Why I Won't Buy An iPad (And Think You Shouldn't Either)
Danny O'Brien: CD-Roms And iPads

Bill Gates will - and did - cling to Windows as long as possible, Steve Jobs will cling to the desktop for as long as possible. The iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad all feel like pre-web devices to me. The iPhone is a smaller desktop, the iPad is bigger than the iPhone.

Farmville is the media savior, it is not the iPad. 99% of Farmville users don't pay. I never heard Mark Pincus complain about that. 99% of the users not paying is his business model. (Farmville Farmer's Market: My Idea)

Fred Wilson: Thoughts on the iPad

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