First off, like countless others, I’m partial to products designed and manufactured by Apple. All of my computing, both work and mobile is done on Apple computers. When the rumor mill begins for new shiny products, I quickly shoot out emails to my friends that can scoop me some details.

That being said…I was very underwhelmed after the announcement and demo of the iPad.

On release day, so many of my friends waited in line to get theirs as soon as possible. I was underwhelmed, yes, but I totally saw a use for the product and understood those who wanted it…I was just sure it wasn’t for me. Simply put, people were raving about the device.

I lasted a few days. I made the decision during a meeting with the student casting crew for a film class I’m instructing. I was having a hard time paying attention to scheduling of details, and did some browsing on my iPhone. I’m not sure why I made the decision so abruptly.

Either way, I looked to my co-instructor Brian and said, “dude I’m buying the iPad.” His reply was an excited, “dude, you should.” So after finishing, we tromped over to the Apple store on campus and I bought one.

I decided on the 16gb. The wifi model is the only available, but I will probably upgrade to the 3g when it is available. The size was a choice that I don’t feel like I will regret. I’ve had an iPhone since 07, and I’ve never had over 8gb of media on it at a time. The truth is, I stream most of my content. I looked at this product as a replacement for my kindle, which I was able to sell an hour after I bought the iPad (sold it over twitter, very quickly).

I’m absolutely in love with it. The iBooks application alone has made it worth the purchase. It destroys the kindle. The immediate options for brightness control and text size are extremely useful. No need for a book light with this, unlike the kindle. I like to read before sleeping, and it’s super functional to have a backlit device. The click to get back into your table of contents with direct click navigation to bookmarks and chapters in the book is awesome.

My bookshelf here is filled with free books I’ve gotten from the store, and with converted pdf books I transferred over in like…5 minutes. Awesome.

The twitter application I’m using is Twitteriffic. So far, it’s the best designed and most functional. I think they did an awesome job, and kudos to the iconfactory team for having it available on launch.

To comment on the wifi or 3g + wifi debate, I will have to say that the wifi model has been all that I need. Oddly enough, it has turned out that any circumstances where I’ve been able (and it has made sense) to use the iPad, there has always been wifi. Situations where wifi is unavailable will probably be only iPhone appropriate. If you think about it, it makes sense. But, with the no contract agreement for 3g, I will probably be picking up the 3g model. A month with travel and airports alone make it worth the purchase (so you can get around paying $9.99 a day for wifi access).

Like I said before, I was one of the “haters” of the iPad, initially. I’m very happy I gave it a chance. I am constantly on the go, both in work, school, teaching, etc…and has been amazingly useful. I haven’t touched my laptop since the day I bought it. It’s the kind of product that you need to see and FEEL before you make any kind of decision. A friend of mine, Dan, was very vocal about his hate for the iPad. After playing with mine for about 3 minutes, he had changed his mind. I do really feel like this is the beginning of a movement into a new kind of computing. The iPad has made the simple, non media work things I do on a computer possible on a beautiful completely touch interface. The convenience of having a battery that virtually never dies is such a game changer for me. The iPhone comes nowhere near the functionality of the iPad. I for one, know users like my Mother for example, will use this and only this once they have it. When you are directly involved with your browsing and not using something like a mouse and a keyboard separating you…it’s just…easier. I find it really hard to describe.

It’s only been out a week. I’m excited to see what innovation applications and uses come forth for the iPad in the near future. When 4.0 becomes available, it’s going to make the iPad even more useful for many, many people.

Oh, and the screen looks amazing.