Add Mike Monteiro to the list of people who actually understand the iPad. The money quote:
The people don’t want “tablet computers” with Ubuntu and OpenID (worst name ever for a product attempting broad acceptance). They could honestly give a shit whether it’s a closed or open system. And, let’s be really honest, they probably care as much about DRM as they do about baseball players juicing; by which I mean not very much at all. They want things to work most of the time, and be easy to fix when they don’t. And if the process by which it happens is “magic” they are totally cool with that.
They want the thing in the movies.
This is a concept that’s been banging around in my head for a while now. Ask most geeks if, given the opportunity, they would want a device like the PADD from Star Trek. Hell, ask them if they would want the whole Star Trek computing experience (“Computer, download all available pornography with the keywords, ‘asian,’ ‘big titties’ and ‘lesbian’”). I think most would say yes. But, when confronted with what well may be the genesis of that model, they run screaming back to 1992. It’s weird.
[I thought I'd repost my comment on this.
If you are able to restore the original comments, please delete this one.]
When I saw the presentation I immediately thought: “Wil Wheaton will finally be able to scribble one something that isn't just glass with printed paper behind it.”
I commented on this on the AMB blog (ep #45) already, but I'll say it again:
If I'm not much mistaken were entering an era (sounds pompous, but I couldn't find a better expression) of consumer friendly client-host-computing.
This goes beyond the single tasking approach of the iPhone and iPad, where you can only have one app running at a time.
You'll decide what you want to do, load up the client device with the needed data and work away.
Or to use your example: You stuff the iPad up to the brim with porn, walk away from the host computer and start jerking off. When you're done, you delete the unnecessary data, and fill the iPad with stuff for your next task.