I have a portable keyboard at work, which I leave there. Otherwise, I use the iPad’s virtual keyboard.

So, why don’t take the keyboard away, simplify the OS and make it web-centered and pack it into a convenient, trendy designer accessory?

I think the idea is just great.

Personally, I wouldn’t touch an iPad with a stick, because I’m a computer nerd and I, er, didn’t spend the best part of my life typing on a keyboard in the dark just to get myself a touch screen thingy and forget how to type.

BUT.

My uncle has always had some kind of irrational fear of computers, he wouldn’t touch one with a stick, he never did email, never surfed the internet, never learned to type.
I gave him an old notebook of mine and it’s been sitting on a cupboard for ages.

Then he got himself an iPhone to replace his crappy mobile phone from the Cretacic age and… guess what?
He’s LOVING it, he does email, he calls me via Skype, he surfs the interwebs.
But sometimes he wish he had something just like his iPhone, but bigger.

There you are, proof of the vailidity of the iPad concept.

(Sorry for crap English)

However for one – it is more cost effective to buy a bluetooth keyboard than another device – after all you’ve just spent $500+ on an ipad. Nobody wants 3 devices right?

The iPad is flexible. Why? Because we all want to use it in different ways. Isn’t that one of the great things about it?

I’m on the road a lot, so I appreciate less bulk and weight to have to carry around and when at home, I’ll use it on the couch, but from time to time, I reel of a bunch of emails, and for that I’ll pop it on a stand, sit at the desk and use a Bluetooth keyboard.

I’m not a blogger. I’m a journalist, with real paper and real deadlines and events to cover. I’ve written about and used more kit over the past 20-odd years than most geekblogs remember exist, and mobile computing has always been a passion for me from the Tandy 102 I carried around in school to the FlipStart and netbooks today.

The iPad’s battery life, simplicity and ability not to carry the keyboard with you, but to leave it behind if you choose, are key to the success of the platform. Those three items (two, given that everyone and their dog has a case of some sort for their iPad) weigh less than any remotely decent netbook, the system is more robust, faster to use for simple tasks, and can complete a day’s coverage (or more importantly, do some work one day, then when you forgot to charge it still be usable the next day).

The iPad is not an oversized phone; phones have become miniature simple computers that for some inexplicable reason people still insist on trying to do serious work on (myself included, having relied on a Nokia E90 for quick coverage for ages); partly due to the phone’s ‘ready’ state – flip it open and start typing.

What is apparent is that the iPad is a beautifully simple computer, a Macintosh 128 in a world of Commodore SuperPET MicroMainframe systems being asked to perform basic tasks. It’s the best word processor for the purest form of text creation, it’s the best research tool for sitting in the evening and skimming sites, it’s the best sketching tool for quick, paper-like scribbles.

Windows will remain a barrier to netbooks having this simple utility, and JooJoo is still some time away from giving Linux that interface consistency. The iPad is the most natural slate device going; the keyboard simply adds to the utility for people who need the interface rather than adding to the bulk for people who don’t.

I still need a laptop. I use a MBP for hard work, for image editing, and I can use Windows tablets for in-the-field camera work, but for reporting, thinking aloud, making notes and sketches – the creative aid to the process of making articles and content – the iPad is the best product I have come across yet.

(The iPad with keyboard has let me sit in the living room, iPad on a little IKEA Dave table at roughly eye-height and Apple Wireless Keyboard on my lap at a fraction of the weight and none of the heat from a laptop, and write a 2,000 word review in no time without having to exile myself to the office. The laptop wobbles on the flimsy stand and to have it on my lap for that type of writing is uncomfortable, the netbook’s screen is too small to view at that distance and the keyboard is cramped).

You make it sound like they are carrying around 15 bulky items. I mean, You circled 3 things in that photo. They Probably all condense to a small manageable bundle and can fit in a small bag or briefcase.

Not to mention the keyboard is NOT a permanent fixture. So unlike the static image you display, the individual has the nifty ability of picking the iPad up and leaving the keyboard and stand behind….

ZOMG, That’s so crazy hey!

Fact: iPad is just a oversized and overpriced iPhone.

it’s rampant, nobody knows how to use an iPad