Today's announcement of Apple's revolutionary new device, dubbed the iPad, has to win some awards, at least for all the hype and buzz. In all honesty, I think Steve Jobs' speech may have rivaled President Barack Obama's first State of the Union address for news coverage...or maybe it's the other way around.

This new device is all over the place (except in consumer's hands...we'll need to wait a couple months). So, while I'd like to offer up some incredibly pithy review or something, I'm afraid I won't be able to compete with the likes of Walt Mossberg, Robert Scoble, et al. I'm not a tech writer, after all.

But, if you give me just a marketing minute, I'll be happy to share with you some of the thoughts and questions from my somewhat irreverent marketing mind on the launch of the iPad brought to mind.

In no particular order, here's the first 7 thoughts that came to my mind when Steve Jobs announced the product, the name and showed it off:
1. So what will Apple do when they run out of vowels? At this rate, they only have three more products they can bring out under this brand "i"mbrella. Maybe they can extend into some other alphabets and languages for additional vowels. Get the Marketing team working on that right away!

2. And, while I'm on this path, should we expect the hype to begin soon for the forthcoming iPed, iPid and iPud? Anyone want to guess what those revolutionary new products might be? Anyone?

3. There's an e-book donnybrook a-brewin' here. Folks will "ooo" and "ahh" about the iPad's superior UI and graphic delivery vs. the Kindle. I don't even have to see the iPad "live" to know that it will beat the pixels out of Kindle. Apple creates awesome designed hardware; Amazon is a retailer who contracted out design and manufacturing.

What I'm looking forward to seeing is how the war (and it will be a war) between Apple and Amazon plays out on the retail front. Amazon has had the playing field to itself, selling e-books at a loss (roughly $4.50 per title, according to WSJ) to customers for $9.99 in order to lock up market share. Apple will allow publishers to set their own price (probably $12.50 - $14.50) and just take a 30% cut. Interestingly, publishers will make more per e-book through Amazon, but they are worried about "training" consumers to expect that lower price point. Two very different business models. Amazon is an entrenched and savvy retail player. Apple is, well, Apple. This is going to be fun to watch!

4. Is this a cool, evolutionary product? Sure, I'll buy that; it looks that way to me. Has Apple created a revolutionary new category? Um, not in my opinion. It's not even close to the gamechanger conceptually that the iPod/iTunes ecosystem was. As my old colleague Rishad Tobaccowala pointed out in a tweet, "I-pod and the I-phone were immaculate conceptions. I-pad is an offspring of a coupling between the I phone and mac air." Rishad is a brilliant wordsmith. However you say it, we're saying the same thing - it may be cool, but it ain't a revolution (yet). That doesn't mean it won't be successful; I just don't think it's a gamechanger as much as a prettier face.

5. Where's the volume going to come from? What product in people's repetoire will this replace? Smart phone? Not if it's not a phone. iPod? Only if you want to carry this around instead of the little thing that fits in your shirt pocket. Laptop or netbook (which is just a smaller laptop)? Maybe the most likely source -- depends how the typing and software features work for people (at least it's cheaper than a MacBook, and getting close to a PC laptop).

6. Why oh why with all the problems iPhone users are having with AT&T bandwidth and coverage is this coming out solely on AT&T? Does the AT&T Board have pictures of Steve Jobs in compromising situations or something? I was on a plane flying cross-country when this was announced and I could hear the groans (and curses) at 35, 000 feet above the state of Missouri.

7. I saw Nightline do a segment on the iPad tonight. Yeah, those tech-y news guys. Ironically, this sort of turned me off. How cool can something be if it's being touted on a network news program? Newsworthy? I can see that. But seeing this piece on Nightline felt wrong somehow. It doesn't come across to me as a breakthrough product as much as it does a breakthrough in product hype (but the marketing may end up being more important than the product...sales figures will tell the story).

So, there you have some of my top-of-mind thoughts on the iPad. What do you think?

7 Things Steve Jobs Made Me Think About Today

January 28, 2010