There's a group of hardcore people who will want to read and type while watching the progress of a download, as you described. But I don't think the iPad is tar

There's a group of hardcore people who will want to read and type while watching the progress of a download, as you described. But I don't think the iPad is targeted at these people. It doesn't even have an accessible file system. Watching the progress of an arbitrary file download doesn't have much out-of-context meaning in a system where files are only accessible in-context. Also, as I mentioned in the article, you can always move your eyes from your iPad to your iPhone if the app you're using doesn't have the social tools you need integrated into it. I realize the practicality of this is highly debatable though until we see some real world use.