Last Friday, I received my iPad and christened it “Flatland”.

It’s an iPad 3g, 32GB. And I ordered Apple’s case, an output cable so I could present from it, and the charging station keyboard (on which write this missive). And I spent my first weekend soberly considering its strengths and weaknesses.

Right. My wife might suggest it was a weekend of wide eyed amazement. And my staff suggested I christen it “my precious”. Don’t really know what they mean. 🙂

So first reactions. Its amazing. Simply amazing. Fun to use, exciting to be an early adopter, and an exceptional product.

But more importantly, I think it’s going to change how we work. Apple has been appropriately low key about this (other than using the difficult marketing word “magical” – Disneyland’s magical, not Apple).

Here’s one example, I bought the keyboard dock. Mounted in the dock, it’s a great way to write. And, I’m fascinated by how intuitive it is to work without a mouse. Just point where I want to insert text – don’t have to figure out how to get the cursor from one place to another.

Not all the perfect features are yet in place & easy to use. But, given 6 months of App development, I’m wondering if the iPad can’t be essentially the first, mass market, touch screen desktop.

Touch screens on the desktop haven’t worked in the past outside specialized applications. But that’s because they couldn’t match and exceed traditional desktops.

Flatland is different. It doesn’t have to match the traditional desktop. It’s so highly portable, I’m willing to forgive weaknesses as a desktop that I’d never forgive otherwise.

Of course this is a silly idea for “superusers” who leverage a desktop for all it’s advantages. But the mass of people use their computers merely to browse, do a little writing, some presenting, and consume media. For this group, Apple may have surprised us all.

Copyright 2010. Doug Garnett.