It’s not something I’d buy today.  Granted, I just purchased a very nice and functional ASUS EEE which has thoroughly enamored me.  There just isn’t enough email functionality there.  Browsing seems much more advanced than the iPhone, but what is it really giving beyond that?  I have iTunes on my netbook and don’t really use applications beyond reading the news and Twitter, but those are better done on actual sites.

A really solid keyboard virtual interface could turn the tide here, so it’s something I’d look at in person.  Still, it’s only 10″ and that means the netbooks have better browsing.  I just don’t know until it get some better applications.  The iWork and iLife software is nice.

This above all seems like a business person’s device and I like what they did with the no contract 3G network.  In the long term, this could be a product that finds a good market, but it needs something compelling to draw in the non-douche who don’t want it because it’s novel and rocks a deep bezel.  I don’t dig the bezel, for the record.  Still, it’s not all doomsday, the browsing looks great, but if you’re making a bigger iPhone/iTouch, why not put a phone and forward/backward cameras in it for conferencing?  Why not give it handwriting recognition software?  Why not give the damn thing flash and multiple application usage?

I’m a late adopter anyway.  I wait for the improved functionality and apps to be developed before putting in.  Tablets could very well change the game in the long run though, so Apple has done OK by getting this thing out and hearing the critics.  That’s important.  It may give them an leg up on tablet wars to come.  It is a long term time line though.