Every year, Apple comes out with a new product in which they desperate, but unsuccessfully, try to keep under wraps so that Steve Jobs can make a public announcement. (Yes, Apple does have some employees whose sole purpose is to find people who leak unreleased products.) Sometimes the announcement is an upgrade to an existing line. This year, it is the iPad.

What is the iPad? Nothing more than an overglorified iPod Touch. At least the 1st generation of the iPad is. It uses the same operating system as the iPhone and iPod Touch, meaning it supports the same apps as these do. What a nice way to sell an app twice! It has built-in Wi-Fi and supports the new 802.11n standard. For an extra fee, you can get one that supports AT&T or T-Mobile 3G cellular internet with AT&T selling them in the stores at a subsidized price if you subscribe to an AT&T data plan. This brings up an interesting point.

Verizon Wireless is not getting the iPhone

I've read the rumors, maybe you have too. The fact is, despite Verizon's iPhone envy, they are not getting the iPhone. Why would the new iPad only support AT&T Wireless if Apple was going to open up the iPhone to other carriers? Hacked iPhones can support T-Mobile, but that is because T-Mobile uses the same cellular technology (GSM) as AT&T whereas Verizon uses a different technology (CDMA). It isn't as simple as swapping out a GSM microchip for a CDMA microchip, there will have to be some redesign of the iPhone to support Verizon's network.

This is bad news for any iPhone lovers out there. For starters, AT&T was spending the least amount of money upgrading their network among the 4 major carriers. However, just recently AT&T announced a large spending boost in their network. Why didn't do that before now? Second, the main problem with AT&T's network is that it is overloaded because of the iPhone. Not excusing AT&T's cheap ways, but not even Verizon's network could handle all the extra traffic from the iPhone. Before AT&T can expand their 3G coverage significantly, they have to upgrade their existing 3G network to handle all the data traffic currently received. And now Apple is going to add even more traffic to AT&T's towers with the iPad. I hope you like Verizon's and AT&T's hissy fit commercials about their network because it looks like they are going to be here for some time.

Back to the iPad

Although the iPad is a big iPod Touch, it does have somethings not found on the iPod Touch and iPhone. It includes an office package to edit your documents. Very nice. It also has an E-Book reader, Apple's own to compete with Amazon.com's Kindle and Sony's e-reader. However, I don't like this. The Amazon.com and Sony e-book readers use a screen that is easy on the eyes and has great battery life. The iPad uses a brighter screen and colors, which means less battery life and eye strain over time, although it is less than most monitors. The iPad is going to be great for the internet, email, and basic office tasks. I am thinking about using it to replace my paper date book for appointments. But I would have to play with it first before I do that.

Now on to the negatives. While the iPad may be a great device, I can foresee it being nothing more than an expensive paper weight too. The shipping operating system is limited. The biggest feature lacking is the inability to run two applications at once. When it comes out, you cannot listen to an internet radio station and write an email at the same time. I would wait until iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad OS version 4 comes out. The guesses for that are late 2010 to mid 2011.

The rated battery life is 10 hours with Wi-Fi and 3G activated and 1 month standby. My guess would be 9 hours non-stop use for the battery life, with that fading over time.

The iPad is 1.5 pounds. At such a light weight, it is definately something I'm going to keep my eye on. But I will not be buying one until the operating system version 4 comes out. I can foresee many areas in which this device can help my business. At the same time, I can foresee this being a big waste of money. We will have to wait and see which one it will be.