Is Corey Getting an iPad?

I was out of town on Wednesday during Steve Jobs’ big announcement of the iPad. Walking through the halls of the Capitol building in Frankfort–iPhone firmly planted in pocket with the sound off–I could only imagine how the world was changing around me. Surely the much-heralded Apple Tablet would affect all aspects of our lives from that day forward.

Not so much. At least not yet.

Upon returning to the office on Friday, the question everyone wanted to ask me was “Are you buying an iPad?” I’ve been an early adopter of the iPhone–twice sneaking away from camp to procure the new device. Despite the hype and the potential the iPad presents, I will not be giving Steve Jobs $500+ this Spring. Keep reading to find out why.

The iPad is a device about consumption not production.

Jobs heralded the iPad as a new, third class of Apple products that exists somewhere between the iPods and the MacBooks. Does the world need such a device? Not really. The notion of single or even tri-functional devices is so 20-aughts. Jobs also came out swinging against netbooks, speaking about the limited capacity the devices have. The world needs neither promises. Here’s the deal, though: the iPad has less functionality than many netbooks. This is especially true when you consider the absence of multitasking and webcams–features found in even a $200 refurbished machine running Linux.

What the iPad wants you to do is simply consume information, not produce it. The internet, movies, music, television, and ebooks are at the heart of the device. Take in every bit of information you can (as long as it doesn’t involve Flash), but don’t bet on producing much. Despite the fact that part of the announcement included the unveiling of specialized versions of the iWork suite of apps and even a fully-functioning hardware keyboard, Apple doesn’t want you to get anything done while using the iPad.

What I think the market was expecting was something more MacBook than iPod. I guess what I really wanted was a MacSlate rather than the iPad.

It lacks the one thing I wanted it have.

After spending 10 days in Greece earlier this month, I became particularly fond of the power to have face-to-face conversations via Skype. Being able to connect with friends and family through this use of technology is a small update to offer. In fact, many teardowns of similar devices peg the cost of adding such a camera around $10. Despite my comments of hesitate about the device, I can do everything the device offers through a combination of my iPhone and netbook. As such, even the nice form factor and access to apps means that I’ll be saying no. Just today, the developing community began to share that the code exists within OS 3.2 to offer video chat. That’s something for which we can look forward–maybe even as soon as this summer.

We still don’t know what OS 4.0 will allow us to do.

As I’ve said on Twitter and Facebook, the most conspicuous absence from Wednesday’s event was not anything hardware related but software. When reports ran around the internet in the days leading up to Wednesday about devices running OS 3.2 in the wild, many in the tech community speculated this was a part of the misinformation machine working to confuse what might be legitimate information showing up in the rumor mill. Not so. Everyone simply assume we’d see OS 4.0 as part of the rollout.

Apple has been fairly clockwork about sharing major integer updates on its iPhone OS each Spring. Perhaps Wednesday was just too soon to let the cat out of the bag. Maybe big things are the in works; however, it would have seemed that Wednesday would have been the perfect time to let the cat out of the bag. Maybe, instead, Apple wants to save the real fun for this summer’s updated iPhone. Maybe not.

We mere mortals can only speculate about the mind of Steve Jobs.

Am I excited about the iPad?

Yes. I think the comics community will be one of the biggest winners as a result of the device. A color e-reader with a dedicated bookstore means we should see graphic novels or trades from Marvel and DC in the iBookstore by the end of the year. Is this the kind of device I can give my mom, a person how hates the very thought of computers? You bet.

The challenge with early adoption of any kind is that all the pieces are not in place at launch. Many of my gripes will likely be fixed with software. With Apple’s newfound love of dongles and cords for the iPad, there’s even the possibility that an iSight camera could be added to the device…probably at a $50 premium.

I guess I’ll have to wait until next January to find out. Or the 2010 Holiday season if sales don’t take off.

Until then, enjoy this video of my childhood hero Pee Wee Herman getting his hands on the iPad.