Go Ahead, Cozy Up to iPad

Are you supposed to cradle it against your chest? Or, pop it in your man-bag to pull out on the subway in lieu of your iPhone?

 

A gazillion stories about Apple's new iPad hit the wires yesterday and this morning. Unless you've been sucked into watching video clips of President Obama's State of the Union address, you know Apple's new 9.7-inch touchscreen tablet can do so many things, even give you a 3G connection.

 
Sure, there are concerns about lack of Flash and a higher-than-Kindle price tag ($499 and up!). But -- being the first cousin of the iPhone, iTouch, iPod and i-everything else Apple-invented - it's still supercool.

 

You know you want one. And after reading those gazillion stories (and writing one of my own), so do I.

 

But the tidbit that sent me rolling on the floor this morning was a story in Wall Street Journal, where a reporter who attended the launch event speculated how to handle the new gadget.

 

"At Apple's event, reporters waited in a line outside the door for the chance to touch the iPad," Geoffrey A. Fowler wrote. "Some journalists laid out their Amazon Kindles and Sony Readers on the table to compare the two. No one seemed quite sure how to hold the Apple device, with some cradling it and others gingerly setting it on the table."

 

As someone who has been known to accidentally fall asleep and wake up hugging the book I read the night before (or, more often, the remote), I wonder if the day I cozy up to an e-reader is coming. I predict that over time, the increasing popularity of the iPad will make going to bed with your gadget a little bit less taboo.

 

Now the only question is whether I'll be saving up for one of these babies in lieu of a Kindle.