Launch of the Apple iPad tablet

Over the last week it's been almost impossible to avoid all the hype that's surrounded the launch of the new Apple iPad.

It can't just be me who's thought this, but who is the iPad actually meant to be for?

"We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product," ...."It's so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smart phone."

This was said by Apple CEO Steve Jobs following the launch of the iPad. He claimed that it will change the world!

I immediately want to be cynical and say 'will it really' but based on Apple's track record you'd have to be a very brave person to bet on the tablet failing. I don't have that confidence but I still question who will actually buy it! Who's their market?
Clearly the iPad is somewhere between a conventional laptop and that of a smartphone. Everyone agrees with that. Apple's website claims it's the best way to experience the web, but I don't quite see how it's so significantly better then browsing the web on a laptop or desktop.

Secondly It's too big to put in your coat pocket when you're out and about, but for me the biggest issues would be that it doesn't have a keyboard which limits the appeal. When I've already got a laptop and a mobile phone, I don't need something that's essentially in between the two.

Critics have pointed out that it doesn't run a Flash Player which is the biggest program user for viewing movies and animations online, and which is heavily used in advertising.

The most telling point I've come across in the last week, is that for the iPad to really succeed, it will have to provide users with something they can't get anywhere else.

What does intrigue me about the iPad is its affect on the apps economy and on old media. It seems certain that the iPad will launch a new wave of app developers. I was reading an article in the Sunday Times this week by Dominic Rushe who spoke about the Apple apps economy, currently worth £1.5 billion pounds! Apple already dominates the mobile apps economy, so I'm expecting it to clean up with the iPad.

Newspapers and magazines are looking at the iPad as an opportunity to replace declining readerships with a new audience who will subscribe to news applications. For publishers it's all about finding a way of charging for online content, which currently can be accessed on the web for free. The New York Times already as such an application.

But again it makes me think that the content will have to be of high quality or something which can't be found elsewhere, to persuade people to subscribe.

After newspapers and magazines you've also got the ebook market. The iBookstore has now been launched which allows consumers to download electronic books to read. The immediate question that this raises, is will this kill off the traditional physical book market in the same way that downloading music has impacted on the sales of CDs?

As someone who loves books, reading books completely on a tablet device doesn't particularly appeal to me, but maybe this is the future. I do struggle to visualise a time when people will travel to work on a bus or tube only reading from a tablet or Kindle

When the iPad does hit the shops I cetainly won't be rushing out to buy it. Why? Because to be perfectly honest I don't need it, that's not to take anything away from its attributes. What I will be doing is paying a lot of attention to its affect on traditional media as this is where it's most likely to be revolutionary.