A netbook killer Apple iPad

When Apple first announced the iPad they didn't tout it so much as an ebook reader as they did a "netbook killer" (due to its ability to surf the web, check e-mail, watch videos, listen to music, and do a lot of the simpler tasks that netbooks were originally designed to do. Thus Apple had put less weight on the iPad as an e-reader in their announcement, which is still very apparent now that the iPad has been released.

Despite the fact that it has begun to spark a revolution in the publication and delivery of full-color magazines and news, in addition to its support for reading e-books, Apple has taken a low-lying strategy with their iPad as an e-reader or "Kindle killer" as some iPad users have touted. When you go to Apple's website, and browse the guided tours that Apple has made for the iPad, you'll see that the guided tour for Apple's e-book reader app "iBooks" is near the bottom of the list. (Just below it is Apple's guided tour for its iPad productivity suite "iWork" which lets you edit Microsoft office documents such as Word files, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations). What they don't exactly tell you outright is that iBooks (or iWork) is not included on the iPad out-of-the-box. They're extra applications that you have to download from Apple's iPad app store.

Having not bundled the iBooks app with the iPad, Apple seems to be positioning the iPad as more than just an e-book reader. Despite the fact that you have to download iBooks, the app itself is indeed free, though the books themselves aren't (of course). As a courtesy though, and as a sort of demonstration, Apple decided to throw in a Winnie the Pooh book for free. What a nice gesture, Apple!

On the other hand, to use the iPad for editing office documents, you'll need to download Apple's productivity suite iWork, a trilogy of apps which consists of: Pages, for word processing; Each of the three apps can be downloaded separately for $9.99 each. Completely reworked for the iPad, the complete iWork suite will set you back a whole thirty bucks. So be aware of that before you go ahead and grab the iPad for use with work-related document editing, and so forth.

Also note that if you do intend to use the iPad for heavy writing or word-processing purposes, you'll find that your ability to type quickly will be greatly inhibited by the virtual keyboard. Thus, you should snag the external keyboard as well (Note: I'll also explain some typing techniques below). Either way, be prepared to pay more than merely the price for the iPad alone. There's clearly more than meets the eye if you intend to transform the iPad into something a little more productive than it might be for you out of the box.