If you're reading this, iPad is not for you
Why such a bad reaction to the iPad? What Apple have done is brilliantly logical - taken the iPod touch (of which they have already sold approximately 10.4 squillion) and evolved it in a way so as to make it more relevant to mums, young families, the elderly and generally people who don't know what on Earth Foursquare is. Which, as it turns out, happens to be 99.9999999% of the world's population outside of The Valley, New York, and a handful of offices in East London.
If you are disappointed by what popped out of Steve Jobs' tech womb yesterday, don't take it personally. Apple didn't make this device for you - you won't need it if you have an iPhone plus a laptop. You won't want it because it doesn't do multitasking, has no dynamic widgets for the home screen and won't be able to check you in to the latest location-aware/check-in/recommendation app... But for a couple of billion other semi rich people, this device means they can justify scrapping their aging PC (which they only really use for email anyway) and can get a beautiful, cheap and simple family device.
The flaming of the iPad's launch I think is representitive of a growing divide between those who are relentlessly tech oriented (like me), those who sit in the middle and are only just 'getting' the internet and what it can do, and those who are not web savvy whatsoever. I feel this is going to be a huge social issue over the next decade, especially with the pace and scale at which innovation is occurring online.
