Apple iPad… Magic or just Not good enough?

I’m pretty sure you have already seen the new Apple product that Steve Jobs himself presented yesterday to the world! The name: iPad. I have to admit that I was almost certain that iPad would be the actual name although iSlate was mentioned allover the globe in such extend that became almost synonym to the term “tablet pc”.

But now, that what we were actually presented with, was a big iPhone… without the “Phone”, the question is: Is it worth it?

Jobs says that iPad is positioned between the iPhone and a Laptop, adding that his iPad is better than a netbook… cause… netbooks aren’t better than anything ( Job’s words). Ok, iPad seems fast enough (on the video I’ve seen), browsing is a breeze, iPhone gestures and multitouch are all there, some more ways to buy things are also present (iBook store, probably available only within US at first ) and it can run iPhone apps, too. But… no expansion whatsoever, (SD support comes with an accessory and of course a price tag) 16Gb to 64Gb flash drives leave more space to be desired (netbooks are already way better than this Steve), multitasking was thrown out of the window once again (netbooks have that too), there is no camera on it (guess if there is one on most netbooks) and it cannot run flash content (Adobe’s response here).

Ok, it is an Apple product, it is polished, fast enough, thin enough and it will ride on top of all the hype that only Apple knows how to build, but as far as I can see there is no magic about it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a good product. And lets face it, iPhone became dominant not because it was the best smartphone around but because there was that unknown X factor (software, apps, music, simplistic beauty?) that makes it desirable. If iPad has this X factor too, only the future tech writer can tell (or write). One thing is for sure, it won’t be so easy as with the iPhone.

If you got that far down reading this article… you can find:

The live coverage from engadget of the launch event here

The first comments of engadget’s stuff that actually used the thing here

iPad hands on with video here

Gizmodo hands-on here

Sales stuff on Apple’s site here