More Potential Than Performance

The iPad is exciting because of what it could become, not what it currently is.

There has certainly been no lack of commentary, opinion, and conversation about the iPad.

First, to get the obvious out of the way, it’s a terrible name for many reasons; the iSlate or iTablet would have been better choices. As for the device itself, it’s pretty interesting, particularly as an e-Reader. But the real story is how the iPad could evolve in the future.

As it stands, the iPad is simply Apple dipping its strategic toes in the water. It lets Apple get into the tablet computer market and probably sell millions of units to a growing customer base. In the meantime, Apple will continue to work on adding features and evolving the iPad into a device that could go far beyond being just a cool way to watch movies or read books.

For example, the iPad could be a key part of a home entertainment system that connects computers, televisions, and the internet in a user-friendly package – something that the consumer electronics market has been salivating over for years. Or it could be the always-on device that provides consumers with instant access to the internet more accessibly than a laptop or home computer. Or it could be the way that Apple extends its media domination from music to books.

The iPad could morph into lots of different things depending on where Apple wants to focus, what developers create around it, and what consumers want. This is a far more exciting proposition than the device that Steve Jobs unveiled two weeks ago.

For more thoughts, check out David Pogue’s review in the New York Times, Daring Fireball, which also takes a big-picture view of the iPad, and Alex Payne, who has a different and though-provoking post in which he describes the iPod as “disturbing.”

This story originally appeared here. For more about the author, Mark Evans, visit his website.