The iPad is NOT for you if…

The iPad is NOT for you if:

• You are expecting it to be a smaller/lighter laptop
• You want a replacement for a specialized reading device like the Kindle
• A replacement for a mobile device like iPhone or Blackberry
• You type rapidly on a keyboard and will become very frustrated with being slow on a hard to hold, hard to type on iPad
• You are already very comfortable with a Mac or Windows full operating system; you will be very frustrated with how cumbersome the iPhone OS is relative to a real computer.
• Don’t already have a computer – you can’t startup an iPad without first connecting it to a computer (Windows or Mac). Yes, that’s ridiculous for a device this expensive.

The iPad is not:

• Easy to type on
• Easy to manipulate or engage with content on
• Mobile (at least not by the standards of iPhone or Blackberry)
• Ergonomic – it’s too heavy to hold for long with one hand, incapable of being held with two while you type and basically all around awkward.

At the current price, the iPad IS for:

• Apple fanboys
• Early adopters who must have the latest shiny object and have money to burn
• People who are NOT able to use a full operating system (OS) but are able to make sense of the user interface of the iPhone – perhaps this means it’s really for seniors
• People who primarily consume content but rarely generate content (e.g. emails, spreadsheets, blog posts, inserting links into Facebook, etc.)
• Watching video (Hulu, Netflix, iTunes downloads) in bed
• If you don’t already have a laptop at home and want to have something to browse the web while you sit on the couch or cook recipes from while it sits on the kitchen counter, this is a great device.

The conclusion?

Wait for the price to drop and make sure you really need one. Of course, Apple products are not entirely about “need” – they are about luxury and cool. And therein lies the genius of Apple. In 1984 when the Mac came out, there were not enough people using computers for the “cool kid” segment to be meaningful. But by 2010, the “cool kid” segment is a huge market willing to pay premium prices and hence Apple’s valuation. I’ll own the stock but not the product (I own lots of Apple products but my primary machines are Windows7); though in the short term, my instinct is that the risk reward on the stock is not where it should be for me to justify being as long as I was at when the stock was at 190.