The Business of the iPad

Apple’s next revolution is about to take off.  There was a lot of hype around the iPad even before it was launched. The web world was abuzz about a touchscreen device rumored around Apple and what it would look like.  If you searched for ‘apple’ touch screen’, user renditions and prototypes popped up and some were even quite nice.  But, nothing on what would be called the iPad, and what it actually looked like.  Considering this day and age where everything is so hush hush, it’s amazing that they are able to keep such things a secret. When it was finally revealed at the keynote, the Apple lovers in the audience were on Steve Job’s every last word like bees’ to honey. And finally the touchscreen we all anticipated didn’t really excite us. A lot of questions arose at the purpose of it, its cost, and it’s usefulness.

But you have to actually observe Apple’s history and see why this product will be so revolutionary.  When they came out with the iPod, we all bought it. Not only did we buy it, we bought more than one generation. Why?  It served the same purpose as the last, yes it got more stylish, held more songs, got a color screen, now plays video, we bought all the necessary accessories and stereo that we felt looked and sounded the nicest for the price (By the way, there are no more boom-boxes, did Apple do away with those as well?). Then the iPhone came out, we bought that too.  There similar phones out there at the time that did more.  It took 2 generations for the iPhone to get a video camera, my old cellphone already did that just fine. But I still bought it

Their laptop market is phenomenal. If you are going to buy a laptop over $1000 bucks, chances are you are going to buy a Mac.  Not to mention all their products interact so well with one another as I am sure it will with the iPad.

So why are we going to buy the iPad? It is a leisure device. I don’t want to disconnect the 5 wires connected to my laptop every time I want to move to the next room. I need a device that is more portable, but hopefully will not be used as a coaster (even though I’m sure Apple has thought of that.) At the next family event, I will show my family pics, movies, let my uncle do his surfing and mail checking on my iPad, cause I don’t want my 2 year old nephew to start playing with my Mac Pro.

Who’s worried? For one Amazon. Not only will this device blow the Kindle out the of the water, it will do at least 20 other things, and my assumption is that Apple will integrate eBooks into the iTunes store causing a whole new set of controversies like the music industry has.

Your business? This will be a great device for service and product demonstrations, especially geared towards sales-people. Portable enough to keep around the store, just make sure you keep your eye on it at all times.

Wow, for a recession, Apple seems to being doing quite well, especially at the price range they are in.