I having been reading various comments coming out of yesterdays Apple announcement on the Apple iPad. Some are positive but some are also on the negative side. Overall the impression I have is that the Apple iPad will do well once it becomes available. The starting price of $499.00 USD  for the 16 Gb version is enough to peak interest in most people. I feel the Apple iPad is full of juice and not an over hyped product.

The iPad seems to be situated right in the middle of the smartphone and laptop category as far as functionality goes. No other ebook reader on the market currently or coming out this year except for the enTourage eDGe can be placed in the same category. Most are specifically ebook readers with some added online capabilities.

The clear, 9.7 inch high resolution color screen looks very nice to me and the fact that it is a multi-touch screen is great for a screen of its size. Some of the other features that stand out for me are:

• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• iPad version of the Apple iWorks software available
• Compatible with thousands of existing iPhone and iPod Touch software
• 10 hours of battery life on one charge
• Multi-touch screen. No stylus required which can scratch the screen and is easy to misplace

Many ebook readers will be available within the coming months to compete with the popular Amazon Kindle ebook reader. From what I have read thus far, The feature set and the competitive pricepoint will be very hard to beat. The enTourage eDGe at a suggested retails of $490.00 certainly will battle with the Apple iPad but due to its lack of third party software on the Android platform will have a huge disadvantage.

I am looking forward to trying the iPad once my local Apple store has one available.

Source: USA Today

Image Source: Apple