I've always said I think the iPad is more a bet on the future than it is on the present. I wrote a post on my blog a while back that I think makes the point pr

I've always said I think the iPad is more a bet on the future than it is on the present. I wrote a post on my blog a while back that I think makes the point pretty well(if I might be so conceited): http://tomstechblog.com/post/What-People-Donrsquo3bt-ldquo3bGetrdquo3b-About-The-iPad.aspx http://tomstechblog.com/post/What-People-Donrsquo3bt-ldquo3b... The gist of that post is that the "Pad" form factor will succeed for two reasons... Reason #1 - Once documents start moving to the cloud people are going to want a way to view those documents on the go. In the same way that people carry a notepad to meetings now they’ll want to pull up documents in the future. They need a device that focuses on being a "viewing device" (as opposed to PCs, laptops and netbooks which make huge concessions for data entry). The same is true of paper media like books and newspapers. People need a way to carry around these digital representations. Reason #2 - People aren’t going to redefine the page. Digital documents will continue to be based around 8.5” by 11” dimensions just as Roman Chariots defined the Space Shuttle’s booster rockets. So paper will be the form factor that defines the mobile devices we carry around with us in the future. To me that's the point. The "Pad" form factor is something we all know is appealing (they were appearing in Star Trek back in the 60s). It was just a matter of waiting for the right time and producing a quality device. I think Apple's done both of those things with the iPad