All the hype about the iPad! My first crack at instinct led me thinking – geesh it’s like a mispronounced Ipod, like someone’s poor attempt at sounding American-like. Apple coulda thought of a better way to call it. But hey, for whatever name this contraption was called, it’s the latest sensation in the gadgetry world.

I can’t actually wait to get my hands on the iPad. There’s actually mixed emotions about it but I’d rather focus on how and where it’s going to affect our babies. I broached the idea of it to number 1 techie beta tester Keoni and the idea of an even bigger Iphone seems to delight him.

It looms to be the product that kids of this generation will grow up with and look back on with affection just like we did with the first video games. Video games changed how we grew up. The iPad will change how kids today grow up.

Apple was brilliant in how they cultivated apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. With so many apps for kids, any parent with young kids and either of these two devices will tell you that their kids use and love them.

The iPad will take this to the next level. I recognize that in the U.S., it’s very expensive for most families right now, but hey, with a $299 to $400 price tag on it converted to pesos, it’s not a far cry from the Nokia Nseries, Mac Notebooks or Kindle gadgets.

It’s under 50k and why am I not surprised that despite the world-wide recession, we still see us Pinoys sporting the latest cell phones or having the latest gadgets?

If the iPad’s price lowers with time’s passing, you can bet every home with kids will have an iPad. And the first person to create the “kid proof” covering will make money as well. (Hint to entrepreneurs.) On the flipside, the minute these devices hit critical mass in families, the DVD market for kids, who watch the same movie over and over will end as we know it.

Download Scooby-Doo one time and the need to hassle with all those DVDs for the kids at home or on trips becomes a distant memory. A relic of an older generation, wow! That’s big. What’s also big is the exclusion of Flash. The reason is obvious. No flash, far less streaming over 3G. Less streaming over 3G means less bandwidth consumed.

Less bandwidth consumed means phone service providers can offer a great price on the 3G data service. It’s big that there is no USB port. As a content producer that's not a good thing. It means that Apple wants to force us through iTunes to sell content.

It will be the path of least resistance for consumers to add content to the iPad and a huge source of revenue for Apple.

I'm sure there will be work-around alternatives, but they won't be able to match the simplicity of the iTunes Store.

To programmers, the tragedy of the iPad is that it truly seems to offer a better model of computing for many people — perhaps the majority of people. Gone are the confusing concepts and metaphors of the last thirty years of computing.

Gone is the ability to endlessly tweak and twiddle towards no particular gain. The iPad is simple, straightforward, maintenance-free... and for most kids, that’s some kind of wonderful!!

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