I came away from yesterdays iPad news with mixed feelings. A giant iPod touch? Hmmm…. Not sure that’s something I want. After all it lacked some of the features I thought it should have. But when I thought about it, I was wanting more of a computer and what they released if much more of a reader.
With that in mind I set out to evaluate it against the Barns and Noble Nook and the Amazon Kindle.
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| Features | Nook | Kindle | iPad |
| Screen | 6″ E-inc/Color | 6″/9.7″ E-inc | 9.7″ of LED Backlit Apple Kick-ass-ness |
| Wireless | Wifi/3G | Wifi/3G | Wifi/3G |
| Wireless Plan | Free 3G | Free 3G | $15 |
| Books Cost | Around $9 | Around $9 | $15? |
| Book Store | Barns and Noble | Amazon | Apple, and Probably Amazon and BN via their Apps |
| Interface | Partial Touch Screen | Buttons | Multi-touch |
| Maybe | Extra | Oh Ya | |
| Expandability | SD Cards | None | None |
| Hackability | Its running Android/Linux… | I guess it can be done | Steve Jobs is watching you |
| Other Things it Does | Not Much | Not Much | Various other Multi-media, Games, Apps from the Apple App store. | Lowest Price Model | $259 | $259 | $499 |
Conclusion: The iPad, although lacking free 3G, is a reader +. If you are going to buy a reader you should strongly consider the iPad. If you are looking for a small computer you should consider the MacBook Air or any one of the unwashed masses of netbooks.
I think its important to remember that Apple Steve was not looking to reinvent the laptop.
