Having now had the opportunity to experience iPad for just a little over two weeks, I am really enjoying the device. Frankly, I thought that after the initial buzz of it wore off, I’d become quite bored of it, but that has not happened. Far from it in fact, it’s become my defacto device for so many things.

All of my initial comments remain relevant, with perhaps a caveat: people love the iPad. I really do mean love it. Once people play with one, they really start to see its worth. The iPhone has a sort of utilitarian need that will always mean you can argue that you truly need it, whereas the iPad does not, but you cannot escape the gleeful satisfaction that the iPad experience brings.

Although one would be hard pressed to find a situation in which there is truly a need for an iPad (vertical markets aside) where cheaper and more capable devices wouldn’t suffice, working with the iPad is joyous. Its fun and engaging and totally unlike any laptop, it’s social like computers never have been.

Apple has stumbled on something game changing, that’s for sure. The iPad is far and away the best introduction to the web that you could ever experience. There is no technical complications getting between you and your web experience.

I still contend that the main focus for the iPad is media consumption, whether that be Music, Video, Games or Web. So, it’s not a one size fits all device, iPad is not where you do spreadsheets or write lengthy prose, although such is possible, you will be less productive than if you were to use a more capable system.

Competing devices

With regards to the wave of competitors that’s are coming in hard and fast, at least ten at last count I believe, and with all due respect to Google and Microsoft et al, they will all pale in comparison to the iPad experience.

Microsoft has a great operating system, Windows 7, it gets a lot of things right, but one thing it won’t and can’t get right is touch. The direct physical relationship you have with a slate device is intimate and needs special consideration. Windows and those like it, were not designed with touch interface in mind, applications were written expecting that you have a mouse and keyboard, which is a world away from interacting with just your fingers.

Android too, I find is lacking elementally in understanding the ways in which people work.

The reality is, as I find it, Apple has developed an ecosystem from the ground up with touch in mind. Until these competitors do the same, and do it at least as well as Apple, they cannot compete. I know this, because the tablet PC market floundered for years, never taking off, until Apple came along and showed everyone how it should be done.

Comments? Post them below or on twitter, I’m @spoofscript