Apple is undoubtedly an epic company with a history filled with controversy, success, failure and inspiration.  Apple has brought us amazing things that have altered the course of history over the years.  Brilliant products like the iPod, iPhone, MacBook and iMac are all products that when people buy them, they end up using them every day and you usually enjoy using these products.

I am critiquing the iPad in this post even though I have not used one and I probably will not get the chance just like I’ve never had the chance to use a Newton.

Now Apple has some great ideas and their products push not only technology but also many other industries. I think this may be the only thing that the iPad has any chance of accomplishing.

The hope that I noticed, seemingly being the agenda of Apple in this product release, is the hope of helping, if not solving the plight of the publishing companies in this digital age.

Bringing magazines and newspapers to a device isn’t a new thing(note: Amazon Kindle) but bringing the shiny,glossy look of a high class magazine or other published work doesn’t work so well on an e-ink screen. This fancy GQ, Vogue published material venue is, I believe, what the iPad is trying to shoehorn into.

A noble ambition and one with some potential for profit however it is a very risky one.

Firstly you have to get publishers on-board, and Apple has been working with them to get things started. They have not fully succeeded yet. Amazon and Barns and Noble have quite a lead in this arena.

Secondly, you have to get these published works into the hands of many. I’ve had a subscription to Wired for 3 years…and I only paid $30! The iPad is not cheap($499), but Apple says “oh, but you can use the iPad for so much more! Like work documents and…some websites”.   I could, or with the time I’d save using a real keyboard I could go watch a 2 hour movie each week.

Apple’s stock was on a great rebound from all this insane recession business, especially noted during the time leading up to the keynote announcing a new product that Apple was going to show off! However after the keynote…the stock dropped considerably.  Now I don’t think that the stock market is some kind of oracle but when you release a product and afterwards people think your company is worth less money than before…there might be a potential problem.

Apple hasn’t had a serious blunder in quite a while but I think this might be one.