I have long wondered why apple would release such a crippled product like the iPad for sale. It did not make much sense to me until today.
Apparently the iPad’s purpose is to bridge the gap between traditional print media and online content. That is why magazine publishers are getting very excited and have signed on to become content producers for the iPad. So next time, instead of picking up a newspaper or magazine from the newstand, you will be reading it on your iPad.
The Amazon Kindle did a good job of replacing traditional books, but it can not replace a full color magazine. The Apple iPad is slated to do just that.
The other great benefit of the iPad is that it has a built in advertisement infrastructure, so it is a viable transition for print media. This is something that they could not do successfully with just online content.
Now it all makes sense. I really thought Steve Jobs was a nutcase for releasing the stripped down iPad, but just like when Apple released the iPod and changed the way we buy music, this will change the way people consume print media.