Apple iPad an Apple iDud

Yawwwwn!

After the much anticipated hype and build up to the big announcement this past week, Apple's big press conference revealed little more than old technology wrapped inside a slightly bigger package.

The Apple iPad was announced leaving many people thinking to themselves, "Huh, so what!"

The new and improved product from Apple is neither new or improved...just slightly larger. I describe it as an iPod Touch on growth hormones. It's like Barry Bonds after he went on steroids. It might be a bit bigger, but it's still Barry Bonds inside.

When company chief Steve Jobs made the announcement on Wednesday, he described the iPad as a device that would plug the gap between laptops and mobiles. I beg to differ. It's not even close to being a real computer and it doesn't come with a phone so it's neither a laptop nor a true mobile.

Quite simply...the iPad has failed to live up to the hype. Everything you can do on it, I can already do on my iPod Touch. The big difference being that I can actually put my Touch in my pocket. It won't support multitasking, will only run one application at a time and won't run Flash files...just like the Touch.

The name is also taking a beating with many making the link between "iPad" and the common feminine hygiene products. That's right...the "iTampon." And for an extra $100 you can get your "iTampon" with "wings". Some people have even gone so far as to suggest that at certain times of the month, the "iTampon" will become irritable and not work as efficiently.

If you're someone who is going to make the switch to reading books using technology similar to this, you would be better off to use the Kindle.

The biggest issue for me that truly shows how this is anything but a gap filler for a laptop is the fact you can only add applications using iTunes. This means that unlike other laptops and netbooks which allow any type of external software to be downloaded, with an iPad users will only be able to get hold of software after it has been approved by Apple and added to the App store.

As well as lacking any card slots, the iPad comes without a USB port – making it extremely difficult to transfer documents and information from an external drive on to the device.

Instead of a USB port, the iPad has an iPod connector, meaning that users will have to purchase one of the many adapters on sale in order to use a non-Apple product with the iPad.

A spoof video on YouTube shows a scene from the film "Downfall", which shows Hitler's last days in a Berlin bunker, with new subtitles.

The video shows Hitler shouting at his subordinates after he discovers the iPad won't support multitasking or have Flash support. There have been many different videos made using this tirade but it never fails to entertain. You can see the video below.

In conclusion, the Apple iPad is a complete waste of money to anyone who already owns an iPhone or an iPod Touch. It was hoped Apple would release a true tablet computer (which may eventually happen) that would be used for many creative uses such as photo editing. The iPad does not meet these needs at all.