Jobs v. Obama

Only time will signal the success or failure of President Obama's State of the Union address.

Likewise, we will soon find out if the unveiling of Steve Jobs' Apple iPad is his best move, or prove itself a flop.

No doubt, the announcement of the Apple iPad has been nothing short of a fanatical experience, for vendors, consumers and media agents.

More direct to the point, the Apple iPad was viewed as a saving grace for print publishers. According to tech blog bible Gawker, "Condé Nast, Time Inc., Hearst and the New York Times company were among the companies believed to be making content for the device before the iPad's existence was even officially confirmed ... But there was not one demo of an i-magazine, just a quick visit to Time.com, complete with a Flash media error (reportedly). No wired version of Wired, no singing version of Rolling Stone, not even a video-enabled Sports Illustrated. That's astonishing for such a sexy, high-resolution device that's repeatedly been billed as a boon to [publishers]."

Agreed, the iPad is a device limited by its shortcomings in the area of usability. The promise of it being completely portable was razed. No FireWire. Virtual keyboard (much like a smartphone). Connectivity based on WiFi only - no Ethernet. And if you want to operate it on 3G, the only carrier available is, of course, AT&T. This is great for city and corporate use, but what about the rest of us common-folk?

Oh, and the price. Yeah ... let's start it at $499. (A bit heavy on the price for what is, essentially, a glittery netbook or e-reader.)

Is it safe to say it's a souped-up cousin of the iPhone?

Admittedly, you may guess I have a prejudice against Jobs, Apple or iAnything, but this isn't the case. I was looking forward to its released. Well, with all of the hype surrounding the big day, it was only natural to hope for sunshine from the Apple camp.

Expectations were insane, but then again, "... they're in the business of making money, not playing savior to other industries ..." (or your pocketbook. Do people even have those anymore?)