I don't think the 1st generation iPad is good for creating stuff, either. I find it terribly awkward to use for posting here, for example. E.g. Cut and Paste works, but there are so many finger actions required. Moving the insertion point to a particular character works, but it's a slow process that requires fine finger motion. Etc. Then you've got to poke around some more to transfer that buffer into something else.

I think that if you really want to create more than trivial amounts of work with a tablet, then you need a physical keyboard and a physical mouse-like device (I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually come with a pen for finer control of the screen.). It may be great for Tweets, but I don't do that. A 1st generation (but of course, it's not really) touchscreen works well for me a player/reader, but not so well for me when trying to get my thoughts out to others.

Can't say I agree with the "it's more open because it's not/it does more because it doesn't" school of thought, but I can see where he's coming from. I feel he's using the wrong words to express his thoughts, though. FWIW. :-)

Cheers,
Scott.
(Who is considering a MacBook Air rather than another tablet for any future "thin-and-light with great battery life" PC-ish purchases. But that's a ways off.)

(It's working here) - http://jpteti.com/po...ny-other-computer

J-P: Awesome. Why are you getting it?

Sophie: Well, my grandpa was going to get me a laptop for my graduation gift, but we couldn’t find the one I wanted and my mom said “maybe you should look into that iPad thing” and it’s the same price and it does more. (emphasis mine)

Bam.

It does more.

The teenage market is where I like to turn for a prediction of where the general market will be in a few years. Because while teens aren’t nerdy, they tend to be early adopters because it’s cool— taking out my iPad (which I often bring to school in my backpack) is actually considered showing off by a lot of people. Everyone in my class has an Android phone or an iPhone. One of my friends, again, not a tech nerd, had the Droid within 2 months of it being released and had the Verizon iPhone the day after it came out.

And this market thinks the iPad does more.

This is the key to the iPad that nobody has figured out. The iPad does everything that a regular computer user does. Facebook. YouTube. Email. Web browsing. It does all this out of the box.

And it has all the apps.

J-P morphed what Sophie said about "it does more" into a discussion that it "has all the apps" and of "open"-ness. I get where he's coming from, but the iPad doesn't "do everything that a normal computer user does". When it first came out, you couldn't print with it (without going through lots of contortions) and it still has very limited printer support (unless you're willing to install a hack). Printing isn't unheard of by a normal computer user...

Yes, the App Store has lots of advantages, and the iPad comes with a good selection of apps. That doesn't make it "open". A pet peeve of mind is to attempt to redefine terms. Words need to have meaning for people to understand each other. "It does everything! It does more!" No, it doesn't. He's young, so that's Ok. :-)

</curmudgeon>

Cheers,
Scott.