With Apple announcing that its iPad tablet computer will be delayed on its international release until May due to high demand, it seems that keen would-be purchasers of this new gadget will have a little spare time on their hands for now...
Well, worry not ladies and gentlemen! To satiate your desires, at least for a few minutes, I now present a general round-up of what's going on in relation to this headline-hogging mega high-profile device, which somehow continues to entertain (even before anyone has one) simply by its endless ability to generate news items (some of which are rather bizarre).
Take for example the recent advert for Blendtec (which can be found on Youtube) in which an Apple iPad is rather cleverly employed for the task of boosting sales of the Blendtec's domestic use blender products (I don't want to spoil the surprise - check it out for yourself). All in all, quite a clever hijacking of the iPad media fuss and I don't doubt Blendtec will soon be able to look back on this as a very successful example of a viral video ad campaign.
Now let's turn our attention to more serious matters - namely, that the iPad has been banned (!) in Israel because it actually contravenes the legislation on the permitted potency of Wi-Fi emitters and is therefore a potential disruptor of existing networks in the country. Furthermore, the iPad contravenes similar laws in Europe on the same issue - but has not yet been (and is unlikely to be) banned here. Nonetheless, it is remarkable that either a) Apple didn't design the device to comply with existing laws in some of their most major markets and instead simply hoped they would 'let it slide' or b) that Apple is unaware of the relevant legislation - surely even more unlikely a scenario?
I don't expect that there's any chance this issue could escalate further for Apple - especially with European release dates pending very soon - but there's no doubt that it will damage profits somewhat (at least for the small-ish territory of Israel). Teething problems are of course inevitable with the release of such a high-profile product on a global scale, especially with Apple's decision to get the device out as soon as possible rather than spend years re-re-developing, but this one could surely have been avoided...
However, good news for Israeli gadget fans comes in the recently circulating rumours that Google is working on an android-based rival to the iPad (which hopefully won't also be banned in the territory). I imagine this will come as welcome news also to those who take issue with Apple's slightly 'unique' pricing policies (i.e. their stuff costs absolutely loads). Anyway, there's not much concrete information available on this yet but the current rumours seem highly plausible as far as I'm concerned.
Finally, back to the matter at hand with some practical information for UK iPad-curious readers: detailed pricing plans should be released on May 10th, with O2, Orange, and Vodafone all confirmed as carriers of the device (T-mobile is still in discussions with Apple, but should follow suite soon enough). Until then I hope the ever inflating volume of speculation and rumour in the blogosphere keeps you going...
Dejan Levi
