We for one are massive fan’s of Apple. We  love nearly everything they do and run our social life’s through a fair few of it’s devices. Most people own some form of Apple product now ranging from Macbooks, IPods to IPhones. They are pretty much a dominant force in mobile technology. So as you can imagine with our love of Apple products as strong as it is here at Flip!, and with such a massive buzz around the latest Keynote product launch it wasn’t much of a surprise we got a little bit excited.

Unfortunately with that excitement came disappointment. Apple practically invented the laptop, the MP3 player in its current form and then went and reinvented the phone. Now its reinvented the…well that bits still under investigation. The IPad is neither a notebook computer or a laptop instead its essentially just a giant Ipod Touch. A flat, black screen with a single button but underneath it wants to be a laptop.

The Ipad features Safari for internet browsing, Photos to view all your favorite pics, Itunes Store to get hold of your favorite songs or movies, Ipod so you can listen to your music, Youtube to watch videos in HD,  The App Store so you can fill your device, Maps with the help of Google, Notes to make exactly that, a Calendar, Contacts as well as Email all at your finger tips. A new feature from Apple is the new IBooks.

The iBooks app is a great new way to read and buy books apparently. A market Apple has just ventured in to taking on Amazon’s current Kindle dominance. Once you’ve bought the book, it’s displayed on the animated Bookshelf where you just click and read.

The IPad just like the Iphone tries to do everything a laptop can do, Unfortunately this is where it fails. Just like the Iphone you are tied down to the App Store, and contrary to what Apple would have you think there isn’t always an App for that.

As well as being tied down to the App store, you cant really do any work on it. Fair enough you can get IWork Apps that will open Pages (Word), Numbers (Excel) and Keynote (Powerpoint) but we don’t all work in offices. With lack of ability to install programs that may actually be of use to us, run flash and lack of a camera, the IPad remains a disappointment.

In fairness to Apple, what they do best is redefine the way the media distribution works. They came from no where to become the Number One Online Music Store and came from no where again to have the Number One Smart Phone. Both of these achievements Microsoft has failed to match. So is there a place for the Ipad in the tablet/notebook market?

Only time will tell.