Also, nobody is stopping anybody from building desktop PCs. As long as people are willing to buy the components I'm sure somebody will be selling them.

Doesn't follow. The question is how technology is affecting people's lives, and the answer, for now, is: immediacy and ease of use. For you, the iPad is a Unix machine with no file system and no shell. For a normal person, it is a magical way to share high-quality photos and talk with people across the world. That may not be very high tech, but it's currently holding together human relationships and families that otherwise wouldn't, and ultimately that's what is making an impact.

Many hospitals have been using tablet based computers for years. And think of all the touchscreen based systems out there. Kiosks. Some ATMs. Etc. I'm honestly somewhat curious about why so many people would think that removing a physical keyboard, changing the form factor, and making software easier to use would translate into a device becoming trivial in purpose. The only thing I can come up with is the concept of difficulty being inextricably linked with capability. The "REAL programmers debug memory dumps LIVE!" sort of machismo. If a jumbojet were so easy to pilot that a 4 year old could safely fly one I imagine people wouldn't take it very seriously for a while either.

What amuses me most about this is that we already went down this exact same road with the PC long ago. The PC was a toy, and not acceptable for use in serious business, until IBM started legitimizing the idea (after which Apple II sales shot up, ironically). And yet from day 1 the iPad has always been more capable than, say, the Apple II.

It is a truly abysmal creation device, though. Typing on it is slower than on a physical keyboard. You can't switch between apps very easily, so doing anything where you'd have to reference or copy information is greatly hindered. If you want to use "non-visible" keystrokes (like control or win/cmd), it's a non-starter. The OS is heavily locked down and so divorced from the concept of "processes" and "files" that it is designed to not simply hide the internals, but to actively deny that they exist. While it's possible to create with it, it's absolutely the wrong tool for it. The hacker ethos is adamant about using the right tools for the job. Using the iPad as a creation platform (with, perhaps, the sole exception of a finger-painting device) is akin to using a pair of scissors like a bandsaw. You can get it done, maybe, after a lot of work and a lot of pain, but it's the wrong tool for the job.

I really appreciate how usable the iPad is as a device for people who simply want to consume content. But, I think that to treat it as the "next generation of computing" (see also: the "post-PC era") does a tremendous disservice to our industry, our children, and our society as a whole. Breeding out curiosity and penalizing the tinkerer is not a good thing. I am a programmer because my computer is my artist's canvas - code is the medium with which I paint. It is a deeply creative, deeply engaging, deeply expressive device for me. The iPad is not - and by design, cannot be.

It's a fantastic device for consuming content, but if you're going to sign up with the iPad, you're going to have to sign up to the consumer-oriented culture it is infused with. That'll be $0.99. Please don't peek behind the curtain.

Edit: Because I'm sure it'll be brought up, don't confuse creating content for the iPad (with your full-fledged Mac computer) with creating content on the iPad. The former is, of course, happening all the time, and that's great. But unless you're buying the device plus the $99 developer's license to be able to program it, you're not buying a "production" device.

Or is it simply that the iPad makes so much consumption so easy – on a PC NOTHING is very easy to do in comparison. It's a little bit like the idea that TV only is for kicking back, even though you can make very difficult content for it too – all creators exlore the nature of their medium/device, whether it be developers or content producers!

iMovie - plenty of amazing music-making apps in addition to Garageband – and an increasing number of outlining apps, OmniOutliner, productivity apps like OmniFocus – seem to suggest that appmakers are still only starting to explore what can be done with this new UI and what the usage scenarios are for this device. They're different!

TODAY, most of the apps existing presume that you have a PC, and indeed, until iOS 5 – soon coming out – you need a PC for backups and various device management tasks. That PC dependence will end, and with it maybe most of the need for tablets to be defined as complementary 'consumption' devices. How file management will work with apps in the iCloud is only about to start to get worked out. Indeed, looking at how the iCloud works suggests their vision of how people will use their various devices together – it's still quite untried!

So, I'd not say tablets are doomed to be for consumption – it's more of a market dynamics question, like you note, together with technology just getting created. It's really about what gets explored. And one can hardly say that the app store model can't be successful for those who want to create something new.

I'm hopeful – and also did some of my best work at that time on a Psion Series 5, back in 1998. For editing, the touch interface, with a stylus and a keyboard, turned out superior to desktop word processing - at least to me.

What we're getting away from is maybe the idea that work is done at a desktop – something that still lived on with laptops. It will partly be a sort of 'self-conscious' loop of what is possible to be done – what we make possible to be done – and how convenient and productive these tools then turn out. 'A bicycle for the mind' indeed...

Will it displace desktops and laptops? Not for people who use them to get work done. Anyone writing a book probably won't use an iPad - nor will someone writing software, or doing accounting/etc. It will, however, one day replace the things "most" people use computers for - consuming media, articles, videos, writing short blogs, etc.

At it's heart - it's a consumption device with some capabilities of creating. The content creation capabilities will simply get stronger with time (UX mockup tools, Keynote/presentation tools, sketching applications, etc). As the tablet/touch-interface market expands and more companies get in the game, things will only get better. More tablets will come, more 3rd party hardware addons will come - creators will be enabled.

Do I wish it ran OSX-Full, instead of iPhone OS? Yes, but while I wish that, I also see the fact that using an OS designed for a touch-based system is superior than a normal OS with touch-based interactivity "bolted on".

Anyone doubting how intuitive and natural a touch-based system is to work with should try handing an iPhone to a two year old. They can figure it out much more quickly than a mouse and keyboard. My poor daughter (my guinea pig) can pick up my iphone, switch screens, find and start her game(s) in seconds. She's still flummoxed by my laptop/touchpad and the little mouse icon on the screen.

It’s 2013 thinking to suggest iPads are for content consumption and it’s ridiculous to assert that a Chromebook has any advantage for creation.

No. The problem is that Apple did not release anything else. They did not release a product for "professionals." Thus, some, perhaps many, IT people are upset because they were looking forward to a useful tool, and instead got a toy for mom.

edit: And I want to add, there is no sign at all that an Apple tablet netbook will ever be released. Many people are frightened that the iPad represents where Apple is going for all of their product line.

Then I found out it has not one, but two, complete office suites compatible with Microsoft Office. (Documents To Go, Pages, Numbers, Keynote).

Then I found out it could completely replace my guitar amp, with 5 different amps, 11 stomps, 5 cabinets, and 2 mics. (AmpliTube, AmpKit)

Then I found out it could do advanced photo editing. (PhotoGene, PhotoForge)

Then I found out it could create paintings for the cover of the New Yorker (Brushes, Layers)

Then I found out it could more quickly and easily do my homework than pen and paper could. (Penultimate)

Then I found out it could completely replace a DJ’s equipment. (Looptastic HD, AC-7 Pro, Pianist Pro)

These are just what I’ve come across in my relatively limited exposure to the iPad App Store, and even then only in my relative niches.

It’s still more than enough to tell me the invented dichotomy of “consumption vs. creation” for the iPad is completely false, yet somehow, it’s gained enough hold to generate just short of 4 million hits on Google.

So, next time some writer says you’ll need a non-existent PalmPad with a rumored stylus in order to do “real content creation”, or someone tries to equate a dedicated e-book reader to an iPad, or a competitor’s COO pretends their 9 year old “Tablet PC” initiative is somehow going to be better at content creation, using an operating system designed for a mice and keyboard, ignore it. They are relying on assumptions that aren’t born out from actually using the device and exploring the available software, or they are unaware of how young the platform is (it’s only been 7 months since developers were able to start programming for it, trust me, we’re only just starting to see real innovative apps released), or they are a competitor who is knocking on the iPad because they have to.

My iPad has replaced my notebooks, pens, paper, laptop, guitar amp, PS3, board games, and books. It will only be able to do more in the future.

I guess where I diverge from the author is that I don't really think it's a problem that it's mostly a consumption device. I think desktop computers are so thoroughly better as creative devices that maybe its fine that the ipad has its own niche.

It'd be easy to say "sure but you're a geek, you just don't see how easy to use and useful the iPad is for normal people". But I don't think it is. The form factor is just bad. Watch the video on the Apple store, and you'll see actor after actor carefully pretending that it's comfortable to sit/stand/hold this device without getting an aching hand/sore neck etc.

Yes, there are applications, just like there have been for previous tablet PCs, but they're niche.

Is it really that much more than the Apple Newton was 20 odd years ago? Did the Apple Newton seem revolutionary at the time? If so, why did it fail?

I'd love to hear a concrete reason why the iPad is 'revolutionary'. Like a genuine reason, not just people pointing to the lone person on slashdot who called the iPod 'meh'. That doesn't count.

So, please explain to me clearly, why having a laptop without a keyboard/trackpad is revolutionary.

Absolutely true. A lot of people like to mock the position that the iPad is a 'device for consumption' whenever a new story comes out about someone creating a song or painting on his iPad.

Well, there's a reason why it's worthy of a news story. You don't see articles written whenever someone creates a song on his Mac or PC.

I love my iPad. It's a great consumption device. But its terrible for tinkering and creativity (and this limitation is by design). Let me know when I can design flyers and brochures from it. Or write a program on it to do something useful that can be shared with others.

You're absolutely right that there's no necessary dichotomy, but in practice that's what's happening. The iPad could be an awesome platform for a Squeak-like development environment where you create and program a bunch of objects and have them interact with each other. But Apple won't allow such an app in their store which makes it unavailable to the large majority of users, and if they had their way jailbreaking your iPad to run it would be a federal crime.

Oh, and our tools for creation still are rapidly improving. Prices for computers have gone nothing but down. People are today able to buy a great PC and a tablet for the same price of a PC ten years ago.

That's true, today. But if tablets replace PCs for most people as many are predicting, PC prices will go up substantially: partly due to reduced economies of scale, and partly because reducing the market to professionals and geeks will allow more price discrimination.