April 22, 2010 was the day that changed my life. Why? Because that was the day I received my Apple iPad.
I’m probably not what you would consider your typical Apple Fanboy … though I did own five iPods and three Apple laptops at one time in my life, but that’s beside the point.
The iPad, marketed as “magical,” was supposed to change the way the world viewed and handled media. Yes, I’ll admit that the 9.7-inch touch screen does look extremely sexy when playing solitaire, but as far as reinventing the way I take in media, it falls flat.
Most of the popular news outlets — from The New York Times to The Huffington Post — have jumped on this magical iPad carpet and developed apps for the device. But while the browsing experience is different, I don’t see how revolutionary it is to use one finger and swipe across articles, opposed to physically turning the page of  a broadsheet.
It’s an interesting way to receive news, except when your battery dies, and suddenly you are left with a useless piece of glass in a metal enclosure, which is ultimately the downfall of the iPad — its appearance outshines its performance.
Of course there’s the “wow factor” of the iPad, but that does me little good when I’m sitting in my room, propping up the device on an empty box of Domino’s pizza to watch the newest ESPN highlights. And even after people get over the initial, “Is that an iPad? Can I touch it?” the one question that I’ve dealt with the most is “What do you use it for?”
In the four or so months the iPad has had the privilege to travel with me on a day-to-day basis, I’ve found that it’s more of a supplement to other
devices, as tabloids are to newspapers, so to speak. It doesn’t do anything more efficiently than my Macbook Pro — aside from playing PAC-MAN with a touch screen. And if I’m going to unload next month’s paychecks for the latest Apple product, I at least expect it to do my laundry.
It’s hard to pinpoint one concrete reason that the iPad deserves to replace the newspaper, just to the left of my daily morning coffee and 6 to 10 inches from my iPhone 4.
It’s a touchy subject for me, but the fact that I find myself habitually lying to friends, fabricating several different reasons for why the iPad is practical, leads me to believe that if the iPad is truly “magical,” then it’s probably witchcraft.