The iPad is Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G enabled, has battery power for 10 hours, has a 24.3 x 18.9 cm multi-touch [...]]]> Well Steve Jobs has done it again. The iPad does look like something people have been waiting for since long in the mobile computing arena. 5 publishers provide over 1 million publications through iBooks!

The iPad is Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G enabled, has battery power for 10 hours, has a 24.3 x 18.9 cm multi-touch led color screen usable in both portrait and landscape orientation, runs on a 1 GHz processor and is going to cost $499 for the basic model with 16GB storage and weighing 680 grams.

So, is it worth the wait (pun intended)? Steve feels the “bar is pretty high” to live up to public expectations for a computing genre between a smartphone and the laptop. To some, it’s just an upgraded iPod touch!

Industry watchers say book aficionados will still prefer cheaper ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle or the Sony Reader and those looking for mobile computing would prefer the net-book.

I dare to differ! If Apple does some improvement in the product like increasing processor power and storage, adding a webcam, making compatible with all ubiquitous software like “flash” and seamlessly integrating VOIP and still keep it under $500, then there’s a surefire winner. Steve! target the Indian market. It’s hungry for such a device – the market has still not picked up the smart-phones or the net-books with much enthusiasm because these fall just a wee bit short of the desired combined features from an Indian viewpoint. An improved iPad is what is badly wanted and I bet if you ran an advance booking campaign you would get 1 million orders on the opening day!

Beware, Google with their insight of the Indian market, could be already working secretly on this! India based HCL had a similar flip-top product with a 7 inch tablet, which did not take off much though retailing at under $250. They too could make a comeback with some improvement.

Well we are still waiting…

(Image courtesy Apple.com)