Well, it has come to this. In addition to all the accolades to date, let's add one more. After having played with one for an hour, the iPad has the potential to be the new killer ap. I do not say this lightly. This thing has potential well beyond the laps of homo sapiens couch potatius. I can see a lot of use in hospitals and this thing will almost certainly kill both the kindle and the UPS' tricorder.
It will also revolutionize how we consume media. Why bother with a television network schedule when you can download your favorite show in the comfort of your friendly neighborhood star bucks? It will, of course, have consequences for other media as well, but why belabor that point.
But a few days ago, while sitting in the cafe section of a barnes and noble, I overheard a young woman extol the virtues of dead tree artifacts. The woman in question was in her early 20s! That is when I was reminded of the previous lessons of photography and television. These things did not make earlier media obsolete. Those working in those older forms reinvented them, bringing us abstract expressionism and rock 'n' roll. The iPad will bring on a similar revolution because people will still want physical artifacts in addition to digital tech toys.
So while the new iPad is something to be desired, it won't kill print. Print may be a dinosaur, but it will adapt, survive and like one species of dinosaur, it may even grow feathers and learn to fly.
