In an effort to meet more blog owners and share new opinions on topics we have created a concept called co-writing.  Once a month we will partner with other writers to share our opinion on a particular topic.  This month’s topic is the infamous IPAD.  Read ‘em and weep.

Over the years Steve Jobs has used his intellect, ingenuity, and marketing genius to create a loyal base of customers.  See the documentary Macheads for an insiders look into the phenomenon.

Steve Jobs can be defined as a visionary who takes risks to introduce items to the marketplace.  He is largely responsible for the PC that you are reading this post on (regardless of the platform).  However, his latest invention is the cause of much dispute and turmoil.

In 2010 Apple released the IPAD.  The IPAD has been described as a tablet computer with internet browsing, gaming,  media consumption, and kindle-like book reading abilities.  The device functions on a modified version of the Iphone OS.

The controversy surrounding the IPAD is clear.  The device is essentially a larger Iphone or Ipod touch.  Labeling it as a tablet PC is simply an intelligent marketing play to sell more units (> 1MM at the time of this article).  Before writing this article I decided to stake out local apple stores to find out why people where buying this “tablet” PC.

I wish I had a robust set of findings to report from my research.  I questioned 20 people.  15 of them indicated that they purchase ALL Apple products.  5 of them tried to craft intelligent uses for the product but essentially said the same thing as 15 honest people I surveyed.

The results were in.  The device has little to no extra functionality not currently available in the Iphone or Itouch.  Therefore, it is a waste.

Mr. Jobs I tip my hat to your marketing genius.

Co-Writing Resources:

Mike Austin – Is the IPAD worth the hype?

Joreel Diaz – Is the IPAD receiving too much publicity?