OK first-up, I confess I’ve been a fan of Apple for some time.

Whilst never cheap, in my opinion, the products are always reliable, work well and for longer than most other vendors offerings, PLUS they’re really a pleasure to use. My 2 year old MacBook Air is a great example; despite daily use, it still looks great, the built-in battery (that everyone got so concerned about) still lasts 4-5 hours before needing a recharge and it’s never crashed or hung.

So, as you’d expect, I was keen to get my hands on an iPad. But when I did I was not that impressed, in fact it was a bit of let down. Was it too hyped by Apple’s marketing gurus?

When it arrived, apart from the excellent build and screen quality, I was somewhat disappointed, it really did look and feel like an oversized iPhone and it didn’t have a camera nor would it run Flash. WiFi and 3G connectivity worked well and setting up all my work and personal email accounts was as straightforward as you’d expect from an Apple product, but it still failed to excite. That is until I started to use it on a daily basis during my commute…

Instead of viewing email, documents, surfing and checking on train times on my laptop or my iPhone I used the iPad. The first thing that strikes you is how easy it is to take out of a bag and be usefully working in seconds, then you realise you’re not worrying about the battery running down anytime soon (it really does last up to 10 hours!). However the real revelation comes through continued use and in my case in three forms:

• Firstly; using apps to access information you want on the web rather than a browser (this being the great development for Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone OS). It’s just so quick, easy and pleasing to check the weather, stock markets or make a quick tweet via a purpose-built app. Reading the FT on that excellent app really shows the future too and reading a book changing for the first time since the invention of the paper-back.
• Secondly, no keyboard; at first you miss it (the on screen keyboard is fine for email, but you wouldn’t want to write a long report) but when you use apps built specifically for the touch screen you start to be released from your addiction to the mouse and keyboard, this can be very positive. Using Apple’s Keynote to create a presentation is instinctive, fast and fun, the end results can be stunning. Surfing the web is also instantly pleasing.
• Thirdly, it’s so light and easy to pass around, you can present or share information in a far less formal way and as it’s solid state there’s no hard-disk crash to be concerned about. Useful for company presentations to a client or simply watching the news on Livestation or as I did recently, watching England lose at football on TVCatchup with the family whilst away on holiday.

Don’t take my word for it, get one and live with it for a few weeks and make your own mind up. Like classical music or jazz you really need to give it time and understanding to really appreciate it – ironic really, given it’s the perfect device to feed the instant gratification that many seek from the mobile internet.

Whilst Apple’s iPad is the first out of the blocks as a truly useful tablet it’ll not be alone for long. Cisco have just announced the Cius, a very interesting business communications oriented tablet based on Google’s Android OS, it’s rumoured HP bought Palm so they could launch a tablet that is non-Android and a gaggle of PC manufacturers such as Dell have products in the wings.

Who will win, who knows? But those offering Cloud Services and the publishers who grasp this new technology are sure to benefit and so will you.

Don’t listen to the cynics it IS a game changer!