In Forbes.com's estimation, the iPad is actually being used for productivity purposes and, interestingly (to people who generate content for a living) for *paid content* applications. (That's as compared to the iPod/iPhone, where the bulk of paid apps are games.)

That's right. Content apps. That people are paying for. Hmmm. Could this actually be a revenue stream for print journalism? Would you pay for your daily paper again if it showed up every morning (or evening) on your snazzy little touchscreen display?

Among all the predictions about how the iPad will revolutionize media, I think this is among the most relevant and important: "We're hoping you can lean back with this thing, curl up on the couch and take it into the bathroom and read it," said Bill Jensen of Village Voice Media.

I'm still fighting the urge to hate the name iPad (we got used to "iPod" and that's a stupid name, too) but given that Bill Jensen (tech guy for Village Voice Media) is totally right about the iPad being the first real computing experience designed for enjoying while attending to your personal business in the WC, I'm afraid we're in for whole 'nother round of jokes.

Seriously, though, another thought or two on the iPad -- I stayed out of the office *most* of the day today, sick, and after sleeping all morning I decided to listen in on a Marketing Webinar this afternoon.

The iPad would have been totally perfect for this (propped up in bed, wearing headphones, glancing occasionally at the slides) except for the fact that the Webinar's slide presentation was in Flash. I know Steve's logic on trying to kill Flash (it does, after all, suck) but he may be missing some important uses Flash that will take time to transition to HTML 5 (like attending virtual meetings).

Also, if I were seriously using my iPad for something like a virtual meeting, I could see where the lack of multitasking would get annoying -- while listening to the call, I was talking notes on my BackPack page and replying to important e-mails -- all things that sound like they wouldn't be possible on the iPad, since I'd be stuck in the browser. (Maybe I could switch active pages for the note-taking? We'll see.) Instead, I'd be back to needing some sort of computer (laptop, netbook) in the vicinity for watching the webcast while using the iPad, conceivably, to switch back and forth between note-taking and e-mail checking. Seems like a troublesome limitation.