Commercial Archetype

I was just thinking about the iPad.  I still don't have mine, it is locked up somewhere in the bowels of the Apple Industrial Complex, or more likely, not even produced yet from its assembly line in China.   I am impatiently waiting for the 3g version.  I have almost gone to Best Buy three times to get the crippled one, the lowly wi-fi only version.  But so far I cant bring myself to do it.

I admit I belong to the cult of Mac.  For the record, I am not the one that actually stirs the cool-aid, but when the cups come by on the tray,  I might just take a sip.  But that is not what I was thinking.

With all the hype that has been stirred up about the iPad,  I realized that the iPad is not a giant iPhone or iTouch on steroids.  The iPhone is actually a miniature iPad with a phone in it.  This is important.

There is no one within the cellular industry that does not take the iPhone seriously because of its huge market share.  The iPad will be bigger, well it is bigger,  but you know what I mean.  The iPad is the essence of the iPhone, and its release is the materialization of a commercial archetype.  This 'thing' is a portable window into the vast new world of data through which you can see almost anything.  Apple realized that for this use, smaller is not better, because the iPad is big enough to see clearly, yet small enough to carry.  When it hits its stride, it will be at the top of several markets.

Just for starters, and not in any order of importance:
1. it is functionally a Wi-Fi and bluetooth enabled iPod
1a. plus, a big screen touch remote for Apple TV (Yes, I have a apple TV, I even like it.)
2. a mobile broadband connected scheduler with email and a calendar that looks like a real DayTimer.
3. a color internet connected touchscreen GPS with digital compass!
4. a portable personal movie player
5. a mobile broadband web browser
6. a touch screen video-game system (Imagine what would happen if they made a case with a game slot!)
7. a portable data input device with audio and video out. (think word processor, spreadsheet, and video presentations)
8. an omniBook reader, because it reads iBooks, Amazon Kindle books, Barnes and Noble Nook books, free eBooks and personal documents.

What is amazing is that It does all these things well if not better than most other devices.

There are more, and some haven't even been thought of yet,  but through the App Store they will come.
If I made a product that did anything on the above list,  I might want to start a little hedge and buy some Apple stock.  For Apple at least, this thing really might be "Magical".