iPad: What the...?

The big question for Apple: can you change one letter and still rule the world?

The company behind the revolutionary iPod mp3 player has just planted its flag deep in the stagnant tablet computer market and the emerging electronic book reader landscape. But is it a tablet? Is it a laptop? Is it for e-books? Is it just an inflated iPhone? What exactly is the Apple iPad?

Announced in January 2010, to mixed reviews among IT buffs and even rusted-on Apple fans, the Apple iPad is nevertheless set to revolutionise a number of emerging product markets, including tablet computers, digital book readers and Apple’s own iPhone and iPod Touch products.

Apple iPad mobile device?

A genuinely revolutionary product, the iPad defies description. Even calling it a mobile device is controversial; at around 24cm x 19cm, there are few pockets yet invented that it would slide in to. But its almost-A4 size does point to some uses that are clearly front-and-centre in the minds of Apple’s strategists.

iPad and the Kindle e-Reader

It was well over two years after the release of the Amazon Kindle e-book reader that Apple head honcho Steve Jobs announced the imminent release of the Apple iPad. But – if previous Apple products are anything to go by – it will be a genuinely disruptive game changer.

There were mp3 players before the iPod, but after its release, that product soon became synonymous with mp3 players generally. There were 3rd-party applications written for mobile phones before, but nothing could have prepared us for the massive explosion in functionality following the release of the iPhone (and especially the SDK or Software Development Kit).

And Amazon has already created a small-but-growing market for e-books; a market that has already got sections of traditional publishing (and especially newspaper proprietors) in a fearsome lather.

So we can only wait in anticipation while we see how Apple change the rules of publishing on the back of its new device.

iPad e-boook reader

One of the projected boom markets in IT is in e-books. Popularised by the Amazon Kindle, the concept is simple – instead of buying physical paper books from shops or online, users can just go online, buy an electronic version, and read it on their electronic e-book reader.

This simple idea actually points to a revolution in publishing and reading unprecedented since the invention of the printing press made mass publication possible around 1440. Everything from old classics, new novels, monthly magazines and even daily newspapers seem set to be swept up in the e-book reader revolution.

Just as the iPod and the iTunes store changed the recorded music industry forever, the iPad has the potential to change the entire market and distribution structure for published material.

iPad, iPod: more than an e-book reader

The Apple iPad is an e-reader. But its heritage and appearance signals that it’s destined to be so much more. Currently, there are almost 100,000 apps specially created for the much smaller iPhone and iPod touch devices. While most – if not all – of these applications will be able to be used on the iPad, the future of this device seems sure to involve two enormous markets: gaming and television.

A lightweight device just a bit smaller than a piece of paper is a perfect fit for people on the move who still crave a quality experience from their entertainment devices. And whether you’re playing the latest video game or watching downloaded television or movies, the iPad will certainly offer an experience to beat any other small (or smallish) device.

The iPad is available in Australia from mid-2010.