Out of the box it’s simple to setup, you just need to plug it into the latest version of iTunes, sync up some content as you would with your iPhone or iPod, then off you go. However, the fact that you have to plug the iPad into your computer before you can use it eludes to my main gripe with the iPad. If this device is truly to replace a laptop or netbook then it needs to work out of the box. More of that later though.

Functionally the iPad is just a big iPhone, without the phone! It’s intuitive to use, like the iPhone, and after 5 mins of drooling I did find myself thinking…. “well that was fun”. 1 week later I have set up my email account, uploaded some video and installed some apps, and admittedly the laptop has been out much less. The fact that you can turn the iPad on or just unlock it and be on the internet within 10 seconds is perfect for a quick browse whilst watching TV or in bed.

Moving on to Apps, you really start to realise who the iPad is targeted at. Although Apple quote thousands of iPad Apps being already available, most of these are the long tail of mediocrity. The rest are predominantly business oriented or games. The Business oriented Apps like Pages, Numbers and Keynote give a much better idea of where the iPad is going. In fact, it was an App called “Things for iPad”, which retails at £11.99 which made me realise exactly what the point of an iPad is! Yes that’s right folks the reason d’etre for the iPad is to replace the humble notepad. Perhaps I should have realised this from the name but a simple To-do list App made me realise that this could easily replace my notebook, plus add a lot of other cool stuff in. I could carry the iPad around with me every day and never need to write on a bit of paper again!

So what are the drawbacks of the iPad? Well they are two fold. Firstly, it is dependent on syncing up with a laptop. Until it can function separately, it won’t replace the laptop. Secondly is file storage. Creating Apps like Pages, Numbers and Keynote, you would think that you would be able to save files and documents on to the 16GB+ of storage space, then share and manage them with the cloud, email, etc etc. Apple have actually made sharing files particularly fiddly, you cannot see a list of files saved, in fact you cannot even manually save a file in Pages, it automatically saves every 30secs. If you want to take the file elsewhere, you have to transfer it via USB to iTunes, or export and email. Also you cannot import a file, work on it and then send it back to yourself.

So in summary the iPad is an amazing product, it has a load of things going for it. Would I advise buying one? If you already have a PC and an iPhone, then no. The second or third generation of the iPad are probably going to blow this one out of the water with a whole raft of new features much like the iPhone 4, so I would wait a year or so, that is unless you are a Apple fanboy like me.

Some of you by now might be thinking this is all very well but Apple already produce a product called Apple TV. Apple TV is essentially a plug-in box for your existing TV that allows you to stream content from your computer to your TV. This is a worthwhile learning process for apple, but for me, why would you want to plug something into your TV when you can just have it built in, complete with stylish Apple design cues. Apple know this and for this reason I would expect the next Apple TV product to be an actual TV.

Someday we will all be getting TV over IP.  This may be some way off yet but for the early adopters this is a very real prospect. In fact you can now get Sky TV streamed through your Xbox.  Apple already have all the credentials to lead the IPTV charge with the huge popularity of iTunes providing movie rentals and downloadable TV shows.  Any Apple TV will obviously have this built in, along with a good sized hard drive for the DVR capabilities of Sky or cable tv etc. and wireless internet connectivity.  It will inevitably utilise Apple’s App store with a host of TV related apps like news, weather, email etc.  However it’s 100% definite that any Apple TV will be a walled garden with a homescreen running a version of OSX similar to the forthcoming tablet.  As well as providing on-demand TV, and your entire music library I would expect some sort of casual gaming capability through the App store.

Any move by Apple into the TV space would be followed closely by Microsoft who clearly have a vested interest in the battle for the living room with the Xbox, and with their deal with Sky they clearly have Apple in their sights. Likewise Sony will be watching this space closely as they perhaps stand to lose the most out of an Apple TV. Of course they have great heritage with their Bravia and Playstation products but Apple would surely take a big chunk out of the Bravia market share.

At this point you look at who’s hovering in the background and surprise surprise it’s Google. While they may not be interested in product, they are interested in “organising the worlds data” as per their mission statement. If that content is Television and programming then you bet they will be there or there abouts with a vested interest selling contextual ads anywhere they can.

The amazing think about Apple is that people, (like me) will invest in a new TV because it’s Apple, because it will be built to high standards, because it will be effortlessly easy to use and because it will be seamlessly compatible with all other Apple devices. No doubt I’ll be able to doc my iPod / iPhone in the top of the TV or send movies straight to my TV wirelessly from my Macbook and for that reason I can’t wait for Apple to hurry up and build this product.

Let the battle for the living room commence.

Now I don’t have any mates that work at Apple or any inside info, gleamed from Kevin Rose or anything.  But as sure as Apples are Apples, there should be a new iPhone arriving this summer.  The mobile phone industry moves fast so going more than a year without an update to the iPhone would be inviting the likes of RIM, Android devices etc to start nipping at Apple toes.  Last year that monumental day was 11th July in the UK so expect to see Apple move the barriers on again around the same time this summer.

So the big question is, what are they going to do to make us all go out and exchange our 3G’s for a nice shiny new one and another 18 month contract.  Well first of all no matter how much I’d personally like to see one, Apple have officially confirmed there is no iPhone Nano in the immediate future.  Apparently Apple aren’t “going to play in the low-end voice phone business”.Sorry to break that but now that we’re over that check out some of the fake pictures that have been floating around recently.

Anyway without further adue, here are my predictions for the iPhone 3rd Generation…

My Predictions

- Video Calling via iChat camera (behind the screen if the patents are to be believed.
- Kickass camera (4MP at least).
- Further MobileMe cloud computing models, hedging my bets here.
- Cut and paste functionality – Come on Apple this is schoolboy.
- Stereo sound.
- Bluetooth.
- Higher Storage (32GB min?).
- Picture Messaging (MMS).

There we have it. For me the main new funtionality is going to be around video and sharing stuff via the cloud.  Feel free to tell me I’m speaking a load of b******s below.