FifthTech

January 27th marked the date of Apple’s first keynote of the year. It was designed specifically for the launch of one product, and one product alone: the iPad. For a company transfixed on developing the world’s best in mobile technology, integrating a tablet into their stream of products made the most sense. Everyone had been waiting for it, with rumors rising and falling all the way back to 2006. It wasn’t until Apple threw themselves into the mobile phone industry, that everyone realized it was possible. It was suddenly possible that Apple could indeed develop something that everyone wanted.

Even if they didn’t know what they’d use it for.

So now that we’re just a little bit over a week past the event, where are we? Where is the tech industry? Where are the consumers? What do we make of Apple’s tablet device? In truth, that would depend entirely on who you would ask. In classic Apple fashion, the day of the keynote saw a lot –a lot– of chatter about the iPad. Both on the good, and the bad. There were people preaching that the device was just a new iPod Touch, albeit with a 9.7-inch screen, and nothing more. Others, already labeled by the former as Apple fanboys, that said having a large iPod Touch wasn’t a bad thing at all. This sentiment was actually conveyed by Jobs at the keynote, when he mentioned that 75 million people own an iPod Touch, and therefore 75 million people know how to use the iPad.

There’s no doubt that Apple has revolutionized the technology industry on more than one occasion. However, perhaps the days of revolution are over, and we are now at a point where evolution is the better term. Apple has a tried-and-tested product in the iPhone and iPod Touch, and therefore releasing a product that can do more, but has the same interface as those other touch-based devices seems like a no-brainer. But, in the tech industry, and when it comes to Apple, people expected more. It did not help the company that the rumors, most fueled by “people close to the matter,” were running rampant across the Internet. Apple is no stranger to rumors regarding an unannounced product, but perhaps this is the one time where the rumors doomed the iPad well before its launch.

But all is not lost. Truth be told, it never really was. Even when Steve Jobs showed off the iPad, and people realized there wasn’t a camera, there wasn’t going to be multitasking at launch, and found out later that there would still be no Flash support, all was not lost. Why? Because the iPad, just like the iPhone back in 2007, has the potential to be basically anything you want it, or need it to be. This will be done the same way the iPod Touch and iPhone have become the mega-hits that they are: third-party applications.

There’s no doubt that the iPad is going to be a hit. The better question will be: how big of a hit will it be? Will it have people waiting overnight to start the line at the local Apple store? We don’t have long to wait, and I can imagine the world post-iPad launch is going to be a very interesting world.