This is the last iPad blog. Sheldon the FedEx guy delivered it nearly two months ago. It’s been one of the more compelling experiences with technology since I placed the original and somewhat useless 128K Mac on my desk in January 1984 and all my friends came over to stare at it and play with the mouse, which no one had ever seen before.

When Steve Jobs said the iPad was a “game changer,” it was easy to dismiss the comment as more Apple hyperbole. I certainly didn’t know I wanted a tablet computer until the iPad marketing assault began. Walking down Michigan Ave. in Chicago, every single bus shelter advertised it.  I thought I was well served with two laptops, Mac and Windows, an iMac desktop and a Blackberry.

Well, Steve, you are right—again. The iPad is a game changer. But it’s also a tabula rasa, a blank slate, which doesn’t reveal its secrets until some time passes. Also, if you are not already an iPhone user, there is a learning curve with the keyboard and touch technology. It could defeat some potential users.

I had elected to stay with my Blackberry when the iPhone came out, with some trepidation and craving for the other product but I have to admit, it’s one time where the utilitarian, efficient BB met my needs better—though when the next upgrade comes around and the iPhone 4 problems are solved, I probably will switch. Despite Mac synching software for the Blackberry, I’ve had a lot of trouble with keeping calendars and contacts intact on both.

Along with the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg, I believe touch technology could surpass laptops and the previous generation of mouse and point-click interface. The tech isn’t perfect, particularly in its word processing applications, but it is highly functional for basic document entry, editing and emailing. It’s a trade off—size and portability versus functionality.

Here are the ways I am using my iPad:

1. The Big Surprise: the plain vanilla Apple Notes app. While there are improved versions like the $1.99 NotePadPro, the basic version has made my note taking efficient in ways I couldn’t imagined. On my office shelf right now, there are a pile of legal pads I’m about to throw out. I will never buy one again, saving all that paper and expense. This is how the iPad pays for itself. I go to a meeting, give it a name and that’s recorded as the file name on top. I make notes and can email them or refer to them in a list later. Fantastic.
2. Media: one of the reasons I bought the iPad was to get rid of daily newspaper delivery and I did—no more daily Globe and Mail and Sunday New York Times, for the first time in more than 30 years. It took a lot for me to do that, especially the Times to which I am ultra loyal. Neither app is perfect, and one wishes more from the NYT. I’d be willing to pay for it, when the time comes; so far the Globe is terribly behind the Times, unlike the Wall Street Journal whose app is both fantastic and totally annoying, peppered with pleas for subscriptions when contact is locked.  One does receive enough of the Journal to learn from it.
3. Books: The Apple reader is coming on line in this country, as copyrights are straightened out and will be useful but mostly I’ve gotten stuff from Kindle. I really like the sample idea, where you receive a chapter or two and then can download the rest if you want—it’s no different than a bookstore, where you can practically read the whole book if you are willing to sit there long enough. The reading surface is fine; you don’t need the “ink reader.” The book app has made a huge difference; I take the iPad with me on the subway and don’t have to struggle with a book or a paper. I haven’t been on a plane yet with it but I am looking forward to that too. If you have an iPad with books on it, you can read just about anywhere and don’t have to plan in advance. I just love it. A huge plus in efficiency and environmental concern
4. Music: I play guitar and the music-related apps have been a revelation. I didn’t think anticipate that these would be so important and life changing but they have. Previously, I had notebooks full of songs and they’d fall out or rip or whatever: total disorganization. With an app like Totalguitar.com, I can reproduce my song collection, including tabs, for finger positions, in alphabetical order, without paper! Also game-changing; coupled with Guitar Scales and Guitar Tuner, I have a portable gig set up and can play happily on my porch with everything I need. GuitarTab was free but a waste.

Other apps I’ve downloaded include (with comments)

• Guardian Eyewitness, fantastic daily color news photos and photo tips
• The Weather Channel, which I am highly dependent on; hourly weather and radar
• Instapaper, a great app for repurposing web stories for later reading or circulation
• Streamitall radio, not so hot, very limited supply of stations
• Urbanspoon, great restaurant locations
• FatSecret, keeps track of food, which I must do better with
• Twitter and InstantMessenger, both work well
• Flipboard—this must be very popular already, as there is a waiting list to add email addresses for incorporating Facebook and Twitter
• Skype—well, Steve, no camera makes this one less that perfect but the voice works just fine. Get a camera, OK? And a phone, too!
• Pages—Apple’s word processor. A few features missing but it works well, given the medium’s limitations.

I have my eye on more iWork apps, Scrabble and Wired—but another time. The case is also well worth purchasing; let’s the pad stand up and holds it in one place.

Complaints: why doesn’t iTunes have radio, just like the desktop/laptop version? Why no camera—it’s silly. Just withdrawing something because the iPhone has it? There inevitably will be a phone too; you know it and I know it, Steve.

Absence of Flash so far hasn’t been a major problem—can’t listen to the my favourite radio station, Q107 Classic Rock, as it’s player doesn’t’ run without it. WiFi is adequate most places but when the signal is faint, it’s a problem. Works great in Starbucks but not at Humber College.

To draw a picture of how I use it, it’s something like this:

• Sit on porch, read, play guitar or write and correct papers
• Mealtimes, particularly breakfast: read Journal, Times, Globe
• Public transportation, catch up on books
• Bedtime, books or IM
• Random emails or web searching around the house
• Meetings: take notes
• Encounters with the uninitiated (even with a pretty girl on the subway): demonstrate it, show it off. Even the rabbi wanted to see it and took an hour reviewing it. He wants one too.

Thanks, Apple and Steve. Now why didn’t buy the stock?

Tags: Apple Inc., Editing, good writing, iPad, Public Relations, Steve Jobs, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg, Writing