The Third Device

Remember how the iPad was supposed to change our lives? Well, apparently it was. The real question is: has it?

Apple released the first iPad in April 2010, and sold 3 million in just 80 days. By the end of the year, Apple had sold 14.8 million iPads worldwide, representing 75 percent of tablet PC sales for 2010.

Over a year later, everyone is aware of Apple’s tablet, but they always seem to belong to a friend of a friend. The iPad 2 is selling like hotcakes but it's more than likely a result of marketing than functionally serving a purpose.

The iPad even came second in the Popular Science Innovation of the Year Awards 2010. It was beaten by the Groasis, which had to perform miracles by reinventing third world farming, in order to do so.

Where it matters, like productivity, they haven’t quite turned out to be the “Third Device” that we’d hoped for, and apparently needed. Until Apple makes it clear that it can do something we need better than something we already have, it's going to stay in the Nice To Have part of our wish list.