WOO HOO! Only a 47 hours, 43 minutes, and 10 seconds until the iPad is released! I will be at my local Apple Store bright and early on April 3 to pick up my pre-ordered iPad. I think I’m going to shoot for being in line at 7:00 am or so to ensure I’m somewhere close to the front of the line and can get in and out quickly to get home and play with it as quickly as possible.
Of course, reviews by the big tech journalists are out now and I find it odd that they really didn’t seem to tell me anything I didn’t already know about the iPad from the initial announcement or the new guided tour videos Apple put up. None of them have changed my mind about getting one – not that any were overly negative anyway and I doubt that even terrible reviews could have changed my mind.
I’m still keeping an eye out for promising iPad cases and have found a few more that are intriguing. Among them is a case by TwelveSouth that should look like this case they make for the MacBook Pro – I’m hoping it will be a play-through case for the iPad. I also like the Wallet and Clutch cases planned by Happy Owl, though I would prefer just a simple notepad slot on the other side instead of an accordion pocket. There is a fantastic thread over at MacRumors.com that lists all case and iPad accessories on the horizon, which is where I found out about these two.
Also, Vaja is coming out with iPad cases as well, god bless their little hearts. I have always been a sucker for their cases (see my reviews of a couple of their iPhone cases here and here). Vaja has indulged me by putting out some of their iVolution cases for the iPad, but I’m waiting for one that opens like a book. Well, I’ll hold off for as long as I can, anyway.
The New York Times mentioned that Amazon is working on a Kindle app for the iPad (here’s the article I wrote about it on MacRumors.com). I think this is great news. As an avid reader who absolutely loves ebooks, I’m anxious to see Apple’s own iBooks app plus any other iPad app that makes it easy to browse and buy ebooks. While it still remains to be seen, I don’t think that Amazon will be able to include the ability to directly purchase ebooks in their app since this would allow it to compete directly with Apple’s own upcoming ebook store. Apple hasn’t allowed any app that allows you to purchase and download media directly to your iPhone (though streaming doesn’t seem to be an issue, as found in Pandora, Sirius XM, eyeTV, and others) and I don’t see any change to their general rule to prevent “duplication of functionality.”
iPad apps are already showing up in the App Store database – you can see some of them at AppShopper.com here.
Crap. That reminds me. I think I need to stock up on some iTunes gift cards (ideally purchased at a discount somehow) to help defray the costs I will inevitably incur this weekend downloading iPad-specific apps. Costco, here I come!
Leave a Reply