Mobile phone size grows into i-Pad

I have often wondered if the choice of SIZE of display of a digital assistant (mobile phone, netbook, laptop, desktop, etc) is determined by whether you are long or short sighted. Seeing friends struggling to read menus or hunting around for their magnifying spectacles to use a small screwdriver reminds me that we all do not see the world in the same way.

Being short sighted means that mobile phone and small screen laptops are easy. Yet, even with this facility, the amount of space, just space, for seeing the "complete picture" is missing. I need to read more than just a few characters of text.

So, this is where the i-Pad will be a hit, I think. A big enough display to see what you need. And coupled with the i-Book you have great possibilities.

Just days to go to the i-Pad launch

With just days to go to the i-Pad launch (Saturday 3rd of April), the usual secrecy surrounds it. Apple Store staff, even managers and Geniuses (Apple know-all fixers), will not see the i-Pad before the public.

How are others seeing it? Interestingly, even the detractors say that they will buy one!
In the Spring edition of iPhone Life, the odds are 2 for and 1 against. Two writers support it wholeheartedly, one does not. Todd Bernhard's list of disappointments are:

• No camera
• No multitasking
• No tethering
• Limited memory

And yet, he writes, he will buy one.

I agree with the "no multitasking" disappointment - but that is core Apple (Apple core? The bits that stick in your mouth...). Consider i-Tunes, great for many things but only one-slow-task-at-a-time. What is the fundamental flaw that prevents Apple products from multitasking?