Counterpoint: The iPad is the 'third device' I'd hoped for

Exactly. You could also use the Car vs. Bus analogy: the bus is just a bigger car, but in the bus there's enough room to party!

As well the other big thing I love about the ipad are all the things it does better than a lap top, simple things like reminders, tracking my grocery budget, gas mileage, calendar, to do list etc etc. As well I love the kindle app, back reading books again.

All can be done on a PC but the ipad does it better. For example today when I opened up my ipad (smart lid) first thing on top was a reminder about an appointment, that would never happened on a PC unless I turned it on and went to my calendar, which being summer and not working I probably wouldn't have done.

Like most laptop users I'm now 90-10 in usage ipad to laptop

In all the discussions I've read (and I've read alot) regarding the iPad there is one thing that hasn't been mentioned, Windows users. This is the real brilliance of the iPad, is it's brought in whole legions of people like my wife and I who while admiring Apple would have never bought a Mac (reason learning curve is too steep). This is probably the case with PPS Gov't Relations, he was lugging around a windows laptop and the start up time is simply too long.

Now on to the article, I thought the same thing as Murph did, nice toy but why would I want one, happy with my windozes (said on purpose) laptop and my iPhone 4. It wasn't till I got one and then upgraded and bought one for the wife that really how much an iPad can change your life, from playing games to watching rented iTunes (and ripped) movies in a hotel room (never could figure it out on my windows machine).

You really need to use one to understand how different it is

PS I wrote this comment on my windows laptop, while pretty good at it I still prefer typing the old fashion way

Sounds like someone needs an Air...

That being said, if the iPad works, go for it. Me? I'm so distracted by Angry Birds and the poor integration with 3rd party vs. 1st party apps that work simply isn't done on the iPad. I like an iPad, and I feel it has real uses, but it's simply not computer like enough for me.

"After years of watching the masses fawn over the iPad [...], I still can't ever imagine myself investing in one, let alone actually using one in place of a smartphone or laptop." So said Darren Murph on our sister site Engadget in a piece entitled, "Editorial: tablets aren't the 'third device' I'd hoped for... from a productivity standpoint, anyway."

Isn't the iPad one year and some change old?

Good points by Chris. Murph's entitled to his view, but what strikes me is that he seems to treat the tablet as a 'finished' category.

That's just mistaken, because gesture-based interfaces are only in their infancy. If one looks up Oblong's recent demo to MG Siegler for example (cue Minority Report - they were the advisers to Spielberg's team for the computer scenes) one can start to appreciate the kind of long-term project the tablet represents.

It's a different kind of logic, but in addition to iOS convenience, I'd say especially some of the creative apps show some of its promise - and that includes UI promise - to do things a pointer based interface doesn't. It's that promise Murph apparently doesn't see.

The iPad 2’s only limitations are that of its user. I know, Murph’s article isn’t about the limitations of the iPad 2, it is about i2 not being a good 3rd device. The counterpoint seems to make the argument that that i2 is good for a primary device. Let me tell you, I am one of those who does actually use the iPad 2 (AT&T) as a 3rd device. I take my iPhone 4, iPad 2 and '11 13"Macbook Air almost everywhere I go. I use each one to compliment the other throughout the day, at work, on the road and at home. True mobility at its finest... To fully appreciate the iPad 2, one must first know how to use it correctly. There's a reason that Apple has the slogan "there's an app for that". Generally, there's an app (or 10 or 20) for most everything you could possibly need to do on the iPad 2. iOS 5 is going to bridge the gap even more bringing these devices together, from messaging to media across your devices, but, until then, the user must choose the right apps to make the most of these devices. Team Viewer makes it possible to have full computing power from one's mobile device. Drop Box makes it possible to "sync" documents/files across devices. Apps like Office HD, Docs 2 Go, and Pages let you edit/modify those documents and then you save them back to Drop Box, or, email them, or whatever. Rather than linear thinking of a file system/windows computing, one must think about computing in an entirely different way. Find the apps that compliment your needs, and learn how to use them across several devices. Once iOS 5 comes out, your media will be synced (along with its own Drop Box type service for documents and files). I'm also looking forward to a Thunderbolt display for the ease of "docking" the set up at my office. Throw in an app like Air Display, and, you can actually use all three together as an expanded desktop of sorts. (Just because I can...)

It's obvious that the quantity of his posts have come at the cost of the quality of his posts. If you want to argue that you don't like the iPad for reasons a, b & c don't confuse the issue by bitching about issues x, y & z. What Murph was really trying to say is "I don't think anybody will read my blog if I say the iPad is great and sing its praises. So, instead I will write about how it's not good for some abstract things that only I can define and I will use the same old and tired reasoning that others use to disguise their ignorance about the device, its uses and intended market."

I gotta say, although I LOVE the industrial design and tight software integration of all my Apple products, I have kicked myself for buying the iPad. But, not for the reasons you might think.

I tend to be an early adopter of tech that I think will get me to a place of minimalism and are well worth the money. I was a late comer to Apple products, due most to price. My first couple Macs were used. Through attrition, old Windows PCs dying off etc., we're a full Apple household now. My first new Mac was a Mini.

I bought the iPad as a laptop replacement. I knowingly bought it before it could fully fill this role for me, betting on Apple's record of innovations. I assumed Flash would eventually come (sorry html5 is great, but too many platforms at the office and on the public net still rely on this tech) and typing/reading books on it hasn't proven as comfy as I'd hoped.

Then came the MacBook Air and the future of laptops.

I now find myself ditching my iPad for my new MBA. It has flash, doesn't weigh much more, and is a beauty to type on. With my MBA I have the minimalism I want and true mobility.

I think millions of iPads have been purchased, not because of the desire to replace a laptop, book reader, iPod or iPhone specifically, but because it's so damn versatile, that it can do one or more of those things for so many different types of people. People want iOS and it's ease of use.

All of that being said there may still be a place in my life for the iPad as a book reader and bedside browser, if that patent tech that competes with e-ink is real, and/or if the iPad gets flash, or if flash finally dies.

Until then, my MBA and my iPhone get 95% of my attention.

When I read Darren's take on iPad and for that matter tablets (although I felt like he was aiming the sights squarely on iPad), it seemed like his rhetoric was based on the forum comments that has plagued various blogs. It was a little too much "tablets are not necessary when I can spend the majority of the time on my smartphone scrolling around endlessly trying to read content". He fully did not understand what separates a tablet from a smartphone is its size and what that inevitably means to the user. A tablet is easier to read than a smartphone and thus you can accomplish certain tasks much more quicker on a tablet. A tablet allows for a different user interaction and as such, app creators can tailor their software to address that. Darren just seem to miss that and focus on iOS is a phone software and apps for it are merely blown up phone apps. There's more to it than that Darren, much, much more.

I would suggest to Darren to use iPad (or any tablet) exclusively as opposed to his smartphone, but I'm afraid his bias would only lead to another article bashing why companies are racing to catch up to what Apple has done in the tablet marketplace.