After months of rumors and speculation Apple unveiled their new device called the iPad. As a longtime user of Apple products I have to admit this announcement is a bit anti climactic.

The tablet computer market is just getting off the ground. There will be plenty of room to grow. Apple has been smart at establishing a culture and modifying its products to keep people coming back. I know the 1st gen iPad is the tip of the iceberg of what is to come. The book reader feature alone is a game changer, but not enough to move me.

As for now its a nice tote for those that want to travel with an internet ready, media capable device with a screen larger than the iPod touch. The 1ghz processor is certain to keep this road dog out of the heavy computing lane. The absence of a web cam in this age of global communication says to me that Apple wants to keep people attached to their laptops just a little while longer. (For my friends at 5Linx the lane is yours, for now.)

Considering it will be many years before manufacturers beef up tablet computers to the way I use my laptop means I won’t be jumping in any time soon. Instead I may drop $500 elsewhere. My suggestion to those paying attention is to bulk up on Apple stock or Amazon stock and ride it out. When Apple introduced the iPod their stock was trading close to $15 a share. Out of that came the life changing iTunes music/ video store and another life changing product the iPhone. Today, the day they announced another industry changing product their stock was trading at $207. Think about it, a mini computer/iPod Touch type book reader and a book store. This will grow into something big which says there’s money to be made. Also there’s no how the Apple book store will compete with Amazon’s inventory. Maybe a year from now but not today which means there is money to be made. Just a year ago Amazon was trading at $60 a share, the Kindle grew that to today’s market price of $122 per share. YALL HEAR ME!!!

Probably not what you expected to read when you glanced at this, but that’s where my head is…