Someone on an airplane asked me whether he should invest in a Kindle or an iPad. I gave him all of the arguments I've listed here, but didn't really answer his question. Now, having spoken to my brother, read the wonderful Mossberg review in the WSJ, and all of the other reports about the iPad that is released tomorrow (?), I realize that I should have answered this man's question with, "What do you want to do with it?"
If you want to surf the web, have a GPS, read magazine articles and enjoy the full color pictures that come with them, and play games and videos, then the iPad is for you. Dave, my brother, takes it a bit further, so far in fact that whenever I happen to compare the iPad to a netbook or laptop he rolls his eyes in exasperation and says "but, it's not a computer, . . . it's something completely different." Just what it is seems to escape Dave, but I do see his point. It isn't a true e-reader, and it isn't a true computer. It's a tablet. It's a multimedia tablet that does a lot and has a potential to do more.
If you want to read, . . . go get a Kindle. This might be why I'm such a fan of the Kindle. I don't have a GPS, I don't balance my checkbook while I'm out to dinner, and I don't play music in the car with my Kindle. I use my Kindle to read. I read books, I read blogs and I read articles in papers and magazines. I read. That's it. If you want to read with something, invest in a Kindle.
If, on the other hand, you need an e-reader crossed with a Willard Tip Calculator and more. . . go buy an iPad
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