Ipad

About a month or so after the release of the Apple I-Pad i.e. The Apocalyptic Juggernaut that supposedly marked the obliteration of every other laptop in existence, the initial crazed furor had given way to an odd feeling of anticlimactic resignation.

Initially, the breathless reviews ranged from "heralding in a new age for computerkind!" to "a touch of brilliance" and so on and so forth, listing and describing the iPad's varied functionalities and whathaveyous in minute, excruciating detail. You had several self proclaimed tech gurus waxing eloquent about the otherworldly metal and plastic sleekness, the crisp jewel-like display, the feeling of reading an e-book or a comic truly being an experience rather than a dreary chore; and on and on and on, the praises were sung, and Steve Jobs could retreat to wherever cackling evil geniuses with the pulse of humankind in their hands lived - probably a living breathing structure made from the sloughed off spare parts of rejected Apple experiments. A truly fearsome prospect. Digressions aside, the iPad's greatness was deemed unparalleled. And all was well with the material world. Or so it seemed.

Fortunately or unfortunately, after the furor died down, people actually stopped to breathe and take stock of this supposed breakthrough in transformative devices and the verdict was unanimous.

What was the iPad, exactly?

A glorified iPhone, only larger and flatter and shinier? A portable flatscreen TV/ Video player of sorts? An application which provides an otherworldly book reading experience? Surely that cant be it? It was meant to be transformative! Melting the boundaries between form and function and human need, it was supposed to be the next IT device. But does it really fit the bill? What bill was there to fit? Was there even a niche for this sort of pretty TV/Large iPhone/Flatscreen/Book reading/interweb surfing all-in-one sort of thing?

Turns out, that the non-existence of a category for the iPad was only an issue for tech dinosaurs and disgruntled PC users (some would argue that there was no difference between the aforementioned groups). There was indeed a niche, albeit a highly selective one, but exist it did.

The iPad as it stands, fills up the gap between iPhone and laptop, and if one wonders if there was indeed a 'gap' in the first place, the arrival of the iPad signals resoundingly that 'yes, yes you tech ignoramus, not only was there a void, but here is THE TOOL to fill a void whose existence you weren't aware of'.

This of course is a worrying prospect, as it would most definitely pave the way for future products to fill unknown voids we might possibly have, in the course of our meager existences. What about the yet to be recognized need to fill a niche between a smoothie blender and say, the iPhone? Or surely the niche between hair dryers and the iPad?

As long as we remain unaware of our own personal existential black holes, we only exist to give Steve Jobs and his ilk to come up with more cripplingly shiny new products we never knew we needed, but must possess as soon as we set eyes on it. Realistically speaking, it is a pipe dream at best, and laughable at worst.

In the meantime, you might as well cave in and succumb to the jewel-like sleekness of the portable TV/LCD/book reading/hypnotic interweb experience (and so much more) that is the iPad. You know you want to.