iPad or iPointless?

First off, generally, I am a fairly big Apple fan. I have many of their products including laptops, iPods and the iPhone.

I was slightly disappointed with the iPad release. It looked lovely, well designed and something I would like to have a play around with. What it lacked was a purpose. I saw no reason to own one.

My problems with the iPad:

• As an eBook, it fails. Reading using a backlit screen is known to cause the viewers eyes to tire out. 
• Battery life is also poor for an eBook and average compared to the current netbook battery times.
• No multi tasking.
• No flash support.
• No camera.
• Difficult to connect external devices to it.
• Hardware/software will be locked down.

At present I can see two saving graces for the device. 

1. The brand. Loyal fans. Will sell very well at launch.
2. The App store.

Apps are key to the device. Killer, well thought out apps will ensure that the device does have a purpose in day to day life rather than just the software which came pre bundled with it.

Also, it will be interesting to see which companies target the iPad. At present it appears that the publishing World think this is the saviour for their business models. It will be very interesting to see where this goes.