Air [Eats] iPad

After multitudinous hours of reading appellate court opinions and dicing them up with my own overview and spin, I'm ready for a little fresh Air:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20022746-64.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20  (I feel this post is brief enough to include it here, in its entirety.  See my comments, below.)

A report on Friday claimed "anecdotal evidence" of the 11.6-inch MacBook air cannibalizing the iPad. Hmm...so, is that what Steve Jobs meant by iPad-meets-MacBook?

MacBook meets the iPad. Either-or buying decision?

(Credit: Apple)

This research note came to me Friday from Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw. "Signs of cannibalization: There is anecdotal evidence that the MacBook Air is cannibalizing the iPad. A fully functional notebook in a very attractive form factor may be resonating more with consumers than a content consumption only device."

That "content consumption only device" being the iPad, of course.

So, is this what happens when the iPad meets the 11.6-inch MacBook Air? Consumers walk away with the MacBook instead?

If only partially true, it's an interesting twist on a trend that's actually going in the other direction. Nvidia believes next-generation Android tablets will obviate the need for traditional laptops, as tablets become more adept at multitasking and begin to approach the processing power of low-end laptops.

And hybrids make this argument seemingly irrelevant. The Windows-based Dell Duo fuses a laptop with a tablet. If that kind of design proves popular, who needs a boring, old traditional laptop?

For now, the smaller MacBook Air looks and feels a lot like an iPad with a built-in keyboard. Until we're well into 2011, we won't know who's cannibalizing whom. But my money is on the tablet doing the devouring. With the iPad leading the way.

My money?:  Just look at how the Air is positioned (in the photo and the world).  It's poised to pounce on the iPad, take it's lunch money, eat its entrails, and then scatters its keyboard-less ashes over the Mediterranean.

I am also basing this on my own personal experience.  Okay, I toyed with both devices for probably under 60 seconds each, yet I can say I loved the Air and loathed the iPad.  Maybe I'm just a content producer (rather than a good-for-nothing "consumption [schlemiel] only").

All bashing aside, when I used the iPad, I felt impatient, uncomfortable, and underwhelmed.  The load speeds seemed slow, I found the device unergonomic and the keyboard frustrating, and the flick with my finger thing was cool for a couple seconds.

On the other hand, when I experienced the Air, I basked on its keyboard, I salivated at its load speeds, and I marveled at its holistic beauty.  I'm a big-time keyboard user, a self-proclaimed speed demon, and a sucker for laptops.  May they all go the way of the Air (as Mr. Turtleneck (pictured above) declared they will).



Tangent:  I hope you enjoy this one.  I love how Blu-ray is now the must have item . . .  My prediction:  in two - four years, DVD will be largely irrelevant.  I'll take the Air, even up in the air, thanks (especially with free wi-fi for the holidays and the ability to stream videos online).