Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks you probably haven’t missed Apple’s iPad annoucement. This image was taken from a Wired hands on article. Make no bones about it, the iPad is a d is a 9.7-inch, 1.5 pound wonder! Initial impresssions are that it’s easy to use, the screen is beautiful (1024 by 768 resolution), and very responsive (1GHz custome cpu). It doesn’t come with a physical keyboard; you’ll have to buy that as a seperate optional acccesory. The iPad will be released sometime this spring.

Will the iPad kill the Kindle and other e-readers? Probably not according to this article from Wired. While easy to use, it’s missing the simplicity of USB ports (non included), usability of GPS (only 3G iPads will have it), and speediness of multitasking (one app at a time). The on screen keyboard doesn’t make up for the lack of a real one (another optional accessory). We’re surprised at the lack of a webcam and being forced to use AT&T for data connection (iPhone uses hate AT&T…including us).

The real burning question is will the public embrace the iPad? It’s way too easy to tell. Our educated guess is the while a fair of amount of tech gurus take to the iPad like a duck to water many others will be slow to adapt it. More than likely, touch screen devices like the iPad will slowly permeate into our culture over the next 20 years. As the Y generation matures through high school and college they will enter the work place completely accustomed and comfortable with technology. In 20 years when the Z generation enters the marketplace they will probably insist on using the newest technologies. Who knows what life will look like in 2020 or 2030? Time will tell.

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