Aside from the iBook application, which has been a big factor in iPad’s success, magazines are a stand out feature, as you download a publication and read using your iPad as an entirely new style of media. Many publishers are already jumping on the bandwagon to produce their existing print publications with a rich multimedia experience; adding video, sound, and photo capability, to ensure the user has a unique experience.

Unfortunately there are of course the downsides of the iPad; it lacks an integrated camera (big miss for me) and, like it’s iPod counterparts, does not support Adobe Flash, or have HD video output.

So is an iPad for you? If you want an easy, fun, and fast way to do anything and everything on the web (except anything in Flash, of course) or with your music, video and other media then go for it.

The one thing to note about the iPad is that for the time being, it is more of a social play thing, rather than a solid business tool. As the App store grows though, there are more and more business applications available such as VNC app to log in to a computer remotely at another location.  Mighty Meeting, utilising cloud computing, is also a recommended small business app that allows you to manage PowerPoint presentations from your iPad and share them remotely with a number of meeting attendees over Wifi or 3G, a very handy tool for presentations. To edit office documents such as Word or Excel, iWork can be purchased from the App store for $13. For an extra $50 you can get an external keyboard.. and the add-ons keep adding up.

There are a number of accessories available to turn your iPad tablet into a part functional laptop computer, but there are many more appropriate products that fill this niche, such as the Lenovo IdeaPad.

The IdeaPad won’t be out until the end of the year, but I really like where Lenovo are heading with the tablet/laptop combo. Out of its shell, the tablet is a thin, wonderful touchscreen, similar to the iPad, but once docked it is a fully functional laptop running Windows 7.  The downfall of course is that it loses the smoothness and fluidity of use, the quality function of the iPad, and that ever famous App Store; but to me, it is what the Apple iPad should have been.