Does it matter what the iPad is for?

After we had all seen Jobs preach the gospel of the iPad and some of us had had the privilege of holding one, a lot of attention seemed to be directed to what it actually was (it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a super iPod!) and more importantly what it was for.
What struck me was that while the experts were trying to figure these things out iPads were selling like hot cakes. The people buying them did not seem to care what they were for or maybe they already knew what they were going to do with one. But for some reason they were willing to fork out lots of money to own one / find out what they could do with it.

“User experience” in its broadest sense is a force to be reckoned with. In the iPad’s case it was first even only the promise of a good user experience (because what was it / what was it for?). And Apple delivered; people who have been using an iPad for a while now are not disappointed and can tell you what they like using it for.

It’s not that the IPad “is like” or can replace some specific other thing like a smart phone or a notebook (computer) but contexts of use the iPad is more suited for than these other things are being discovered all the time and iPad apps are being developed for these new uses. I think it is very exiting. Just like people didn’t know how to use plastic to it’s full potential at first and used it to copy other materials. And of course the iPad does not have it’s definite form. The competition is on its heels and the iPad will be refined as we learn “what it’s for”.
Next time: examples of what the iPad seems to be good for.