The First Post: Why I’m Buying an iPad Tomorrow

Hi there, and welcome to my blog.

My plan is to write (probably not very much, and probably not very often) about a few things here:

1. Stuff I come across that I think is cool, interesting, or insightful enough to be worth sharing, and that won’t fit in 140 characters
2. Photos, projects, and other stuff I create
3. My own thoughts on products and product development

Since the iPad comes out tomorrow, I thought I’d kick off with a (3).

Over the past few weeks, starting on March 12th when I tweeted about pre-ordering one, many people have asked me, you’re getting an iPad? Really?! Why?

Here’s my reasoning:

1. Within 5 years, I think 80% of people will do 80% of their non-work web browsing (blogs, news sites, YouTube, etc.) on an iPad or iPad-like device. I believe this because I love the browsing experience on my iPhone so much: it’s instant, it’s natural, and it comes in a much more convenient form factor than a laptop. So the iPad will start this big trend, and I’d like to get out ahead of it by understanding the device and what kind of apps you can build for it. (I don’t think anyone has fully appreciated the stuff that will be possible with a big, portable, high-resolution touchscreen.)
2. Putting aside my personal beliefs about trends in web browsing and devices, Apple and Jobs are both influential and prescient. If they think this is the next big thing, maybe it is. And the last two times people doubted Apple – iPod, iPhone – people were wrong.
3. Whatever Apple does, they do really well. (There are a few exceptions.) I like to learn from their product design wherever I can.
4. Curiosity.
5. $500 is a lot of money, but not that much money for 1-4.

Obviously, I also think I’ll use the thing a lot: to read the blogs and other sites I visit most, browse the web while watching TV, use in the kitchen to display a recipe, and so on.

I got the 16GB iPad with no 3G because I don’t expect to watch many movies on it – I’m not so happy about the 4×3 aspect ratio – and, living in London and traveling a lot, I know that dealing with international data roaming will be a pain.

I hope it’s great.

[Note: I edited this post lightly for clarity after posting it.]