I’m not going to opine on the launch of the iPad; there’s more than enough news reports, commentary, tweets, opinions and bubbly bullishness to go around. And then there’s the 700,000 iPads that have been snapped up since Friday.
Instead, I’ll make a short commentary on power of the Apple Aura (the URL is still available). Perhaps more so than even the iPhone, Apple has managed to capture the imagination of just about everyone with the iPad. Even if you’re a Luddite, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to escape the shock and awe of Apple’s much-anticipated iPad launch.
There’s the oh-I-can’t-wait excitement, the media and blogger fawning, and the obligatory and oh-so-passe line-ups in front of Apple stores. Note: Who are these people who line up for hours and days? Haven’t they got anything better to do with their time? What is it about being first other than saying you were first?
Unlike any other consumer products company in the world, Apple has the power to create seismic changes in consumer markets. Whatever Apple and Steve Jobs serve up, the world gobbles up because it’s cool and hip to be seen as part of the Apple wave.
As for whether I would get an iPad, the answer is not yet. I’m not much of a first-generation product purchaser, and I’m not sure if an iPad would be over-kill given I already own a MacBook. Like any digital animal, I’m definitely curious about the iPad but far more impressed with its overwhelmingly positive reception.
For what it’s worth, Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorow is one of the few people who has declared his lack of interest in buying an iPad. Everyone else seems to have swallowed the iPad hook, line and sinker.
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