Well, if this thing sells like hotcakes, there will be a market for two things…

(1) A laptop stand that lets you slide the iPad in at an angle so you can rest the stand on your lap and not have to hold the iPad on your knees. Sorta like:

\
  \
———-

(2) Similar stand with a bluetooth keyboard, if the iPad will connect with one.

Avid readers won’t mind holding the iPad. Other people… I don’t know. That seems like a waste of a perfectly good hand.

The commercial emphasizes domestic use. It shows a man and then a woman, eparately, with the iPad inside an apartment or home. Each is sitting on the sofa or recliner, with legs on the floor or propped on the coffee table. At times the legs are crossed. At other times, they are touching with the iPad propped up by the knee area. A couple of shots has each lying on the rug, with the device held by one hand, the other pinching, tapping, and zooming.

The casual setting of these scenes restate the idea that this device if for a consumer who is using it in a relaxed setting, doing light stuff, and is exactly what Jobs communicated so clearly during his live demo weeks ago when he lost himself in revery by the playfulness of the mouseless and keyboardless interface.

I already know that old school technicians with ten cables slung around their necks as well as garage tinkerers with peg boards full of screw drivers and cans packed with bots and washers will whine that it’s not expandable or that it lacks fifteen ports. However, the couple on the apartment are neither meant to represent technicians nor tinkerers; They are normal people, caring little for the why and how. These are primarily to whom the device is marketed.

@John, The problem with your characterization of technical people is that most don’t have 20 wires dangling from their computers. Right now, I have 2—a power cord because my MBP battery is good for 35 minutes without one and a mouse because the trackpad button went flaky last night (perhaps related to the battery, although I see no swelling).

Marginalizing people who don’t like this thing as atypical dorks is a tired argument. Half the problems with the iPad’s design come right from the current iPhone. They include: (1) locked to AT&T, (2) no unapproved apps without a seriously dorky install process limited to 100 people, (3) no flash, (4) fascist App Store, (5) no multi-tasking (e.g. no Pandora + iWork). These are all issues that effect even the cute couple separately staring into their own laps. So I suppose you’re gonna say the iPhone isn’t for me? I’m locked into 18 more months with 2 of these stupid devices. So it kinda is.

@Bosco - actually you indirectly validiated John’s arguments.  However, I will be more than happy to clarify your points:

(1) locked to AT&T - iPad is unlocked. Plug whatever micro-sim card you want.

(2) no unapproved apps without a seriously dorky install process limited to 100 people.  - The tens of millions of iPhone (which you say the iPod copies) have no problem whatsoever with unapproved apps.  You want unapproved, go to Android and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

(3) no flash - again, the millions of iPhone users don’t care… why should they now?  I hate flash.  It’s a power hog.  Get over it.

(4) fascist App Store - Get over it.  We like it and with the closet-cleaning that Apple is doing to rid the store of craplets, it will get even better.

(5) no multi-tasking (e.g. no Pandora + iWork).  No, the iPod portion with your favorite music will work just fine and most “joe” users will end up doing the same thing.

This will not affect the “cute couple” since as casual users, they could care less about using it as a portable computer as opposed to the streamlined appliance it is intended to be.

I’m a systems engineer and have to work on both Mac and PC’s.  I definitely consider myself the technical person.  But I agree totally with John’s characterization because it is essentially true.  Tech-heads continuously apply a PC-mentality to this product when it is in fact not a PC but a toaster.  It’s meant to do a very limited set of functions very well.  Millions of people have proven your points wrong already yet you feel that the concerns of a very small (albeit vocal) minority somehow deserve a higher-priority.  It’s simply wrong.

You belief that your issues are reflective of the masses at large is misplaced.

I absolutely enjoy my iPhone and the “fascist” App-store ecosystem you claim to hate.  But I understand that no product is perfect and accept whatever shortcomings it has since the advantages outweigh.  The iPad will be the same way.

You have the same tired arguments that has been used since the 1st iPhone came out.  You may want to try changing your arguments.

The iPad is NOT A PC.
The iPad is a Toaster Oven.  It can do some things extremely well. It will be extremely popular because of these things.

I will love to:
• Read eBooks on it.  Reading eBooks on a laptop sucks bigtime.  The iPad will be a pleasure.
• Play games on it.  Think about playing Scrabble or Monopoly or Madden Football or Ice Hockey with your friends and family.  Think about how much better portable video games will be on portable HD screen.
• Surf the net on it.  Think how much more social it is to surf the net in the living room with the whole family - each member with their own iPad.  It doesn’t get between you and socialization like a laptop does.
• Facebook.  Facebook on the iPad is going to be BETTER than on a laptop.  The touch experience on Facebook take it to a new level of interaction.
• Work.  For real estate, doctors, nurses, salesman, etc., the availability of a wonderful tablet-form information gadget will be all the rage.  It is perfect for the vertical market.
• Photos.  This works so much better than the iPhone for photos.
• Presentations.  This is born to be a portable presentation device.  It will even transmit via WiFi to a projector.

The iPad will be with me at all times, in addition to my laptop.  It does some things so much better than a lap top can do.

The LapGenie is the perfect lap stand for the iPad.  Google it.

@JohnDingler: I had to grin at your “old school technicians” description, because it could be me. As I wrote in another forum, this is exactly why I am an interested day one buyer for the iPad. Easily half the things I work on in my garage and wired house have either instructions in pdf or online. I have both a laptop and a UMPC to use for these purposes. The iPad trumps both.

For me, the single issues of non-availability of Flash or costly 3G aren’t limiting factors. The combined ease of use and functionality are the big draws, and the iPad delivers that for me. My working environment is complicated enough, and the ability to access documents on my Mac from the iPad anywhere in the house is huge. I expect the iPad to simplify my life in this respect.