By now, you have all heard about Apple’s entry into the very lucrative multimedia device market with the iPad. Its a place you can put all your movies, music, and books and take them with you on the go. The current leader in this space is held by a little company out of Cupertino, California, coincidentally also named Apple. Their various “iPods” have been a big hit over the years, but Apple plans to beat “Apple” at their own game by releasing this technical juggernaut of features, portability, and at a great price.

First the facts. The iPad has a 9.7 inch LCD touchscreen, it’s using the iPhone interface, and has that thin, sleek, and stylish look Apple is known for, huge ugly bezel around the screen notwithstanding. It has wifi, and also 3g if you’re willing to pay a little extra. How much extra you ask? Well, the base wifi only 16 gig model will go for 499$. That’s just one of the six possible configurations available. The most expensive one still pricing under a grand with 3g and a 64 gig drive for 829$.

Apple is positioning the iPad as a different kind of media device. But what makes it more than just a big iPhone minus the phone part or a big iPod Touch? Everything about the iPad screams ease of use and accessibility. This is a computer for our moms who just want to surf the Internet, answer E-mail, and watch something on Youtube. For you and me its less of a draw, but it does have a use. I’ve always wanted one of those pads people carry around on Star Trek, and I think this is the closest I’m going to get. Keep in mind this thing is going head to head with ebook readers, but its so much more than just a book reader. The second I get this thing I’m putting my comics on it, some school documents, and maybe get the digital version of a newspaper or magazine. However, using this as music player is ridiculous, because it doesn’t exactly fit in your pocket. The apps for it need to more than just bigger versions of iPhones, especially the games. I would kill to play The Sims on this thing, someone needs to get on that ASAP. This is a product for people who love Apple products, and don’t mind the software limitations of the garden variety iTunes app store app.

The iPad is not a laptop replacement, there’s no camera, no way to expand the memory, no way to put software on it that is not Apple approved, for now, and no Adobe Flash support, like the iPhone. Since we don’t live in a society with ubiquitous wifi, this makes the iPad the perfect coffee table computer, or something you bring to the café to read the morning paper on while you sip a latte. For most people, that’s not enough, but as a gadget guy, Apple fanboy, and all round geek, it’s good enough for me. The iPad should be released in The US sometime in the Spring, and hopefully around the same time in Canada.

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