iPad or iFad?

Apple boasts that it’s “a truly magical, revolutionary product”. Analysts have heralded its arrival as a potential saviour for the publishing industry. A journalist described it as an iphone on steroids. The much anticipated advent of the iPad couldn’t possibly live up to the hype and has had a mixed reaction since its launch. I don’t think it’s something I’ll be queuing up to buy when it arrives on British soil in March.

The main focus of this ‘revolutionary’ bit of kit seems to be to thrust Apple into the forefront of the ebook market and the giant has signed up deals with a number of large publishers to aid its conquest. Alongside thousands and thousands of the usual Apple apps, users will be able to download their favourite titles from iBook, opening up and gorging on classics and new bestsellers alike, all at the swish of a finger.

It’s hoped that, whilst luring avid bookworms from the safety of the paperback, this will open up the world of literature to a mass of new, otherwise disinterested readers who, presumably previously engaged with IT gizmos and glued to gaming devices, are seduced by the technology of it all.

I may eat my words, but at the moment, I’m not convinced.

Call me old fashioned but I quite like harvesting books to fill my shelves and I’m not sure I’m ready to transfer that attachment to a virtual bookcase. Books are a comforting entity, something to pick up and immerse yourself in, wear the pages of, share with friends and refer back to in years to come. I can’t see myself curling up with a good ‘book’ emanating from a glaring iPad. An electronic screen just doesn’t hold quite the same magic.

And I can’t see it converting non-readers either. With so many other applications to play on, I doubt that, just because it’s being channelled through a high powered gadget, they’re going to find themselves enticed in to a newly discovered world of literature.

Apple says it’s like having the internet in your hands (which I thought we had with the iPhone and laptop?) but with no multi-tasking programme capability, no Flash provision, no camera and no USB port, surely it’s going to be frustratingly limited in what it can achieve?

I could be getting old and perhaps I need to give the thing a shot. Stephen Fry did say “you only really get it when you get your hands on it”, a mantra I’m relying on for my impending love affair with the iPhone. I may one day find myself writing about my conversion, but for now, I’ll stick to thumbing my way through my much loved paperbacks.