Sitting, waiting, wishing

There may be as yet undiscovered tribes in the Amazon who don't know, but most of the rest of the world can't have escaped that this week saw the announcement by Apple of their latest product, the "iPad". 

This was done in their usual way with Steve Jobs, on a stage in front of a screen, onto which were projected, firstly a series of facts and.....well you've probably seen it so let's cut to the chase. The iPad has caused a stir. 

Not all positive, the name has given school boy humour an opportunity too good to miss. But as comedian Ed Byrne said on Twitter "Yes. iPad is a silly name but so is iPod. Complaining about iPad and not iPod is like slagging Jar Jar Binks but not ewoks" 

Next up came the "it doesn't look good, it's not needed, where's the usb port, it's too big, and I won't be buying one" brigade. Let's be honest you all said the same about the iPhone when that was launched, but you've probably got one now! 

Stephen Fry loves it and he was at the launch and has therefore used one. You can see what he thinks here. But it won't come as a surprise that he likes it, as he tends to love new technology.

I think that we'll look back at this launch in years to come in the same way that we now look back at the iPhone launch. The initial product was eye wateringly good, but the next two versions will be the really good ones. There are competitors already but there will be lots more and they will not quite ever get as good as the iPad, in the same way as there is no phone that's beaten the iPhone. 

If the publishers get it right, this could be the gadget that finally gets newspapers and magazines onto the web in away that you can carry around with you. It could also finally break eBooks out into the mainstream, in the same way iTunes did for music. I don't feel though that this is the death knell for the book, but it will make publishers look at the costs of getting their product in front of a reader and realise that an eBook has to be a serious option now that it can be read in the mass market via iBooks. Up until now eBooks have been a bit of an expensive sideshow, but that could be about to significantly change for the better. I have a Sony Reader, that I love but it should be easier and cheaper to buy books for it. (Part of that is living in the UK, it is better in the US), but iBooks should make others up their game as well. 

Finally, the price. Apple products are never cheap, but I expected it to be much more expensive that it appears it will be. That might just make a lot more people put it on their 2010 Christmas list.