The much-hyped Apple iPad finally made its long-awaited entrance to the UK last week, and what an entrance it was! Apple fans and obsessives queued all night outside the company's flagship Regent Street store in London to get their hands on the 'it' gadget of the year so far. I'm still not really sure what it does, but I really want one. What dark magic has Mr Jobs cast on us?
Billed as something that will plug the gap between a smart phone and a laptop, the iPad aims to succeed where the Windows-based tablet PCs have failed. They also seem to have Amazon's Kindle firmly in their sights. Selling over 2 million units in 60 days is quite an impressive feat - anyone planning on launching a product would do well to analyse Apple's marketing strategy in the lead up to the iPad's release.
Why I want an iPad
So what does it do? Well, you can read your newspaper on it during your morning commute, watch a movie whilst on the move, do your emails, surf the web, all the usual stuff. Stephen Fry is a big fan of its usability: 'The speed, the responsiveness, the smooth glide of it, the richness and detail of the display, the heft in your hand, the rightness of the actions and gestures that you employ, untutored and instinctively, it's not just a scaled up iPhone or a scaled-down multitouch enhanced laptop - it is a whole new kind of device', he gushed.
But the main selling point is that it looks SEXY. I just want one. I don't need it - it won't do anything that my iPhone and laptop can't do together, but I can imagine it making my life better in ways that shouldn't be possible... I really can.
So, am I going to fork out ?429 for one? No. My iPhone may have cost as much, but that was disguised by a monthly contract. I can't replace my phone with an iPad and I can't replace my laptop with one either, so this will be something I must own AS WELL AS those, not instead of both. I guess if I could use the iPad do all my laptop-based tasks and use it as a comedy-sized smart phone, I'd be joining the Regent Street queues. For now, this one is going on the backburner.
Top Five iPad accessories
If you are investing in an iPad, however, you will of course need to start thinking about which slick and sexy accessories will best compliment and personalize your beloved new appliance. Here are the top five:
Apple Keyboard Dock
The iPad has no separate keyboard, which surely creates a bit of an ergonomic nightmare. But thankfully the specially designed Apple Keyboard Deck takes care of that.
The Griffin Flexgrip
This flexible silicon protective case comes in a range of colours and will protect your iPad from scratches and scuffs.
The Cloak by Quirky
A non-slip, rubber carrier case which allows iPad users to view their prized gadget in landscape or portrait
iPad Camera Connection Kit
The iPad lacks a card-reading feature which would allow you to move images from a digital camera's SDCard to the iPad. The two dongles which make up the iPad Camera Connection Kit are therefore designed for importing files via USB and letting you plug an SDCard into it.
Scosche Kickback
This is a leaning device which solves the problem of having to look at your ipad while it's flat on the table or rested awkwardly on your knees.
Paul Francis Egan writes for atom42, a London online marketing agency. atom42 employs a range of marketing fields to create an integrated online marketing strategy for each of its clients.
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