Here with Andrew

So as many of you already know, Apple just announced the release of their new product called the iPad on Wedns January 27th.

Although there are other factors that affect the market, Apple’s stock price has dropped over 5% since the announcement on Wedns.

Aesthetically, I think this product looks great. I used to use an iPhone and it has been probably one of the best phones i’ve ever used. To put that in perspective, i’ve had a bunch of Nokias previous to that and maybe one Sony Ericsson briefly. I’m on the Blackberry Bold 9000 now (switched over for attractiveness of email ability) but I still have my 1st gen iPhone. Also, the weight (approx 1.5 lbs) is amazing!

There are plenty of other sites that discuss the benefits/pros/cons/problems with this product already so I won’t get too much into that. However, there’s a few things that come to mind about this product, especially after a conversation with some friends who are Apple enthusiasts.

Would we carry this around along with our laptop, or bring just this or vice versa?

The consensus was that we wouldn’t bring it along. Even though the product itself is light, it seemed unnecessary for us to bring both around.  I have always valued having something with me that has strong computing/functional abilities, which is why I don’t have a netbook (I know there are many people who would disagree on this with me). On the other hand, I could see myself bringing the iPad to a coffee shop or out to the park to do some light reading/writing.

Is the iPad worth the purchase?

To me, i’ve always enjoyed trying out new technological toys. Before the prices were announced, I didn’t expect the iPad to be overpriced. It seems that the announcement of the price was favourable in the eyes of many consumers. To me, $499 USD for the lowest end model may still be a bit steep. However, I just bought a $700 laptop so this may be affecting my views. I would likely buy this over the Kindle though (the iPad has been rumoured by many to be a Kindle Killer but I don’t think it will).

One last thing that was a turnoff for me was the difference between the Wifi and the 3G versions. As much as I like having internet on the go, I don’t want to be paying more for internet for my iPad in addition to my Blackberry and the internet we have at home. I know I can simply cancel one (ie. the one on my Blackberry) but it doesn’t make sense for me to make that trade off as of now.

Even though it seems like i’ve mentioned nothing but cons so far, I think I would buy an iPad. I may wait for the second round of manufacturing to start first. I do wonder if Apple’s going to be making a bunch of modifications after hearing the responses of so many consumers though.

Are you going to buy the iPad?