iPad hype is pumping on all cylinders days before the big launch on Saturday April 3rd. Here is a first look at the iPad from opening up the box to looking at the product.

According to Walt Mossberg “Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop. It could even help, eventually, to propel the finger-driven, multitouch user interface ahead of the mouse-driven interface that has prevailed for decades.”

My Angle: This is who should buy and iPad.
1) Early Adopters: if you are an early adopter you have to get an Apple iPad. This includes super geeks and young users under the age of 25.

2) Consumer 2.0: People Not Yet Power Web Users: These users know and use iTunes but barely use email at home or don’t really use Facebook, Google, or they just casually surf a handful of web sites. For these users the iPad will be great and show them the power of the web from a new user experience perspective.

I don’t see the iPad being a great for users who are power users of PCs but instead the early adopters geeks and newbies – young users under 25; and older users over 35 who are not hooked on the web. Both user sets know about or use iTunes so will love the Apple product.

The iPad is larger than a smartphone but smaller than a typical laptop.

Marketers from Nike to Fidelity Investments have been scrambling to land a spot on Apple’s iPad in time for its launch this weekend. Madison Avenue and marketers say the iPad will give a much-needed boost to the mobile-ad market, which despite much hype has been slow to live up to expectations. Spending on mobile ads in the U.S. reached just $416 million in 2009—up from $320 million in 2008—according to market-research firm eMarketer.

Advertisers and agencies have more adventurous features in the works. Millennial Media, a mobile-ad technology company based in Baltimore, is introducing a series of features for the iPad that have become widely used on the iPhone, such as an interactive option that allows users to turn their iPads in different ways.

In a post on SiliconAngle CEO of Millennial Media Paul Palmieri gave us an insight to the iPad. Now doubt he knows what he’s talking about given that he runs the largest independent mobile advertising company on the planet.

Paul writes:

The iPad is a big mobile device, not a stripped down PC. This isn’t a surprise to us. We have been predicting for years that tablet devices would ultimately be based on mobile platforms. Why? I see a couple of reasons for this.:

First, the mobile experience is inherently different from the desktop experience. Devices and applications (and ad networks) built from the ground up to serve mobile users deliver a far superior experience. Trying to cram the wired web into smaller, mobile devices just doesn’t work for mobile consumers.

The other primary reason is that mobile users are more willing to pay for content and are much more responsive to advertising (if done correctly) than web surfers on the wired web. Publishers and application developers see the potential of extending the smart phone ecosystem of pay and advertising- supported applications and mobile web-based content to a new category of device that is from its inception, inherently mobile.

The price is right. I was excited and a little surprised to see an entry price point of $499 for the device. I was even more excited to see $29.99 unlimited data plans, with no contract, and that it was only an additional $130 for 3G support. Clearly, there are different levels of pricing to appeal to specific user demands for speed and storage capabilities. This shows that, from the start, Apple sees the iPad as a mainstream, mass-market device. The unlocked, non-contract 3G support (free use of AT&T’s hotspots is another great addition) is healthy for the industry and good for consumers.

Applications are more important than ever. Millennial Media supports a large ecosystem of application developers across numerous mobile image platforms. Each application developer in our network that I have spoken with, from the largest media companies to the independent developer, has been incredibly excited about extending his or her applications to this new class of device.

The palate for mobile advertisers has just been expanded. We have spent a good deal of time over the past year helping our advertising partners best use emerging mobile platforms, like the iPhone, Android and Blackberry platforms, to reach mobile consumers in new and exciting ways. With the iPad and numerous other tablet devices poised to reach the market early in 2010, we are excited to work with advertisers to help them get the most out of this new class of mobile device.

The monetization roadmap for developers increasingly needs to be a coordinated business strategy. New screens, new platforms and new opportunities mean complexity for developers. Developers should partner with providers who give them broad device and opportunity coverage in a coordinated fashion, and that have direct relationships with the advertisers who seek these new and powerful audiences. Mobile applications are a rich and growing market, and being tied to a single operating system or set of devices can have a limiting effect (reach and financial). Feel free to check out the richest set of developer tools and revenue available today at http://developer.millennialmedia.com.

Replacement for the Desktop – Don’t Think So

SiliconAngle contributor Daniel Feller from wrote yesterday asking what will be the users primary desktop be?

There are many people who are super excited about the upcoming release of the latest tablet PCs (iPad, Slate, etc).  I recently received a comment from someone on Facebook related to a previous blog saying that the iPad Will Not Replace Your Desktop.  The comment basically said

Does the iPad and like devices need to be fully functional to be successful?  How many people have more than one mobile device like a laptop and a netbook?”
That is an interesting question.  But I’m starting to wonder if we need a laptop and an iPad?  Do we need a laptop and a netbook?  Depending on what you do, the iPad or the netbook could potentially replace your laptop.  As I see it, most users have a smartphone and a main work computer, for many that is a laptop because they require a larger form factor device while not in their office.  But what if we did the following:
• Main computer: Thin client
• Mobile computer: iPad/Netbook
• Ultra-mobile computer: Smartphone

Think about all of the problems we hear about with laptops: stolen, dropped, lost, expensive, etc. If we went down the virtual desktop route, stolen, broken or lost laptops would not be a problem because your data would be in the data center with your virtual desktop. So why use a laptop?

Is it possible that tablets and netbooks could mean that those of us with laptops can toss them away? If the tablets/netbooks provides us with a connection to a virtual desktop from anywhere, why would we need the laptop functionality?

Of course this won’t work for everyone. Some people will need a laptop. But what we will see in the coming months/years is a much more diverse end point environment. We know this is coming, so it is good idea to start planning how you will integrate all of these endpoints into your infrastructure while still trying to keep the environments secure.

The iPad has already changed the game on the industry. Venture capitalists are putting up the money, mainstream media reviews are looking very good, and big networking cloud companies (like Juniper Networks) are investing heavily.  Even if sales are below expectations the iPad will be a success.

The iPad represents innovation and change. Its’ a lightning rod for startups and it’s not stopping with KPCP. I just posted that Juniper Networks is pushing big their $50 million dollar i-fund (innovation fund) for dynamic network enabled apps. Everyone is talking about iPad this iPad that apps etc.. these software innovations have to run on stable networks hence the Juniper tie-in.

The ecosystem is talking back – everyone agrees that Apple is providing leadership in changing the game.  The cloud also known as the mobile consumer always on and always connected paradigm has reached it’s tipping point.  This is a full blow real deal trend worth participating in.

My Angle: This is who should buy and iPad.
1) Early Adopters: if you are an early adopter you have to get an Apple iPad. This includes super geeks and young users under the age of 25.

2) Consumer 2.0: People Not Yet Power Web Users: These users know and use iTunes but barely use email at home or don’t really use Facebook, Google, or they just casually surf a handful of web sites. For these users the iPad will be great and show them the power of the web from a new user experience perspective.

I don’t see the iPad being a great for users who are power users of PCs but instead the early adopters geeks and newbies – young users under 25; and older users over 35 who are not hooked on the web. Both user sets know about or use iTunes so will love the Apple product.