Mine is due to arrive this week in Australia, a month later then the US release, and I just can't wait.
Many ask what is it for. I just see so many things I can't contain my excitement. The iPad actually comes to fit into what I want to do, instead of the other way around.
First idea... Music
I was looking at doing more with music in my life, so started to look at a series of sound pads and samplers. There were quite a few exciting ones like the Roland SP555 and the Korg MicroSampler.
The SP555 is a pad based instrument that allows 16 pads that you fill and then start creating loops. You can sample into the pad and also perform Live with the setup.
The MicroSampler is a keyboard based instrument, so you can play it more like a piano/synth. You can sample into a key and then play up and down the scales with that sample, and then over sample and build.
Both of these made if very hard to choose, and also made me wonder which would run out of fun the quickest. It would be good to get both of these, and be able to continue to update the software and/or the interface as new features were bought out.
That is when I decided to start looking further into what options were availabe, so the iPad started showing up as something that could do this kind of thing.
Along came the KORG iElectribe. KORG have taken a hardware kit and made it into software. Brilliant and only $10 for an iPad app instead of the usual $300ish for the hardware box.
Looking further I suddenly had a wish list of a dozen apps that would cost me around $50. All powerful. All versitile and all cheap.
Next idea... Graphics
Now that I focused on the iPad, what else could I do with it?
It didn't take long to start looking into the use of it as a graphics tablet. Of course!! It was just totally suited to that kind of thing.
I have always wanted a tablet with the image on the tablet. There have been a few of these devices over time, but I have never forked out the large $ to get one.
The iPad is not pressure sensative, but I can see over time that it could be with some software enhancements and/or sensitivity. A wireless pressure sensative pen can also fill this gap.
Another few apps to add to my growing wish list and only around $30ish spent, and I had all the best graphics software titles sitting waiting for me.
and of course... Games
The great thing about the apps store is that there are a ton of stuff and its cheap. I now hear lots of people complaining about apps that cost them $5 instead of $1. These same people were buying similiar apps on the PC for $100 or $1000 only a year ago.
There are lots of new ways of doing games with touch, sound, microphone and accelerometer. This opens up a new experience and expands the creativitiy of the developers. Lots of scope there.
there is the new untapped market of... Reading
Is this a Kindle clone. Hardly.
I see the iPad as a wonderful document reader, but it is much more than that. The iPad is a full colour tactilish handheld magazine and book reader.
There are a ton of magazine reading apps available, but I have heard that there is no standard on the readers. That is all a matter of time, and I am looking forward to that.
Just having a search function for magazines opens this right up. Also having embedded video, links and lushious graphical pages gives it so much more.
Reading books also sounds like a nicer experience. I have tried the iPhone book in bed and the notebook book in bed, but neither work very well.
The iPhone is too small and the notebook too big (plus it has this keyboard hanging off it).
I have heard of the iPad being something that you can curl up with in bed and enjoy. There is also a hardware screen orientation lock to stop it from changing orientation when you are laying on your side reading.
new areas of use... home automation
When wanting to create home automation you have to have something to control it all. I have used remotes and PCs in the past. There have been tablets available, but generally cost around the $2000+ range and don't have much flexibility. None of these are useful if you don't have them near you when you need to use them.
With the cheap cost of the iPad, I can see that we could have quite a few of them within the next few years sitting in different rooms, doing different things. From simple picture frames to music controllers to news readers to books.
Because of the huge amount of flexibility in the device, you will tend to have one close at hand. Therefore you also have the home automation close at hand, all the time. Double this up with the same (or similiar) software on your phone and its also in your pocket.
Next is growth and expansion. Due to the home automation market still in its infancy, I find that there is always some other functionality just around the corner. Having an updatable device that can grow with the changes aides that.
PC controller device
A large number of VNC solutions are already available. These allow you to control any PC from your iPad within your wireless range, or across the internet.
Now we can have all the PC power and storage we need without having to go to that box to do what we need.
I can see there is a maturity needed to make this functionality seem interconnected, but until then, we do have this connectabilty between systems.
and everything/anything else...
Like a picture frame. One journalist is planning to give an iPad to his mother as a picture frame. Nice and simple and later, this picture frame can also do other things as well.
Apps
To me and many others, it all comes down to Apps. There are huge amounts of them. They can do amazing things. They stretch the imagination of the developers. They keep the bleeding edge super interesting.
They are cheap.
Only a couple of days to go and I will finally have my own.
Check out http://appshopper.com to keep your eye on what is new and when prices drop. I have a wish list and get an email when there is a price change.
Introducing... the iPad
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