For those of you living under a rock and who may not know it, today is iPad Day! And for those of us who live and breathe the latest tech news about gizmos and gadgets, well, we have been scratching off the days 'til the iPad release on our walls since its January announcement by Steve Jobs. Now the quandary. To buy or not to buy? The practical money manager part of me says "are you kidding? This thing cost $500 for the cheapest model!" And then the alpha geek part of me says "why the hell am I not already in line picking up my pre-ordered iPad?" Well, it's too late for that, since I did not order one.
After poring over all the updates on the interweb this morning as I sipped my coffee, I am kicking myself. After all, this is the same geek who was in line EACH AND EVERY TIME for the latest iPhone release. And the first iPod release. D'oh. I'm not sure what my original qualms were, really. Money? Probably. But LOOK AT THAT SCREEN! And after I had to update 20+ Apps yesterday because they are now "iPad compatible", well, I'm thinking it's time to pick up that glass of KoolAid and drink deeply.
Which brings me back to my original concern. The money. If I'm going to spend $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi only model, why not wait and save up for the 64GB W-Fi + 3G model? After all, I already have a boatload of content, between music, photos, movies, podcasts, etc., not to mention the bajillion Apps I've already downloaded. If all I do is consume media and use Apps, right now, there appears to be no better device on which to do this. And I haven't even seen or touched one yet.
So, here I am, staring back at the money issue. I can sell more stuff on eBay, but just how much stuff? I was close to listing my Kindle 2, but am not quite ready to let go of it yet, even though there is a free Kindle Reader available for the iPad, which would allow me to read everything I've ever purchased on my Kindle. That's pretty sweet, but I don't think I'm quite ready to let go of the "lesser technology" for one reason. It's not as flashy, hence not as big a theft target. Yes, that harks back to the days of the first iPhone, when not that many people could be seen with one. BUT, you could slip it into your pocket until you were in a safer place. Not so with the iPad. When I travel with my Kindle 2, no one is staring at it lustfully, although many people are still curious.
The bottom line is that I will not resolve this today. I do know that at some point in the future I will own an iPad. Until then I guess I'll just have to make do with my outdated iPhone, Kindle, and netbook ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment