Will the Apple iPad be an iFlop?

After months of speculation about the introduction of Apple’s “tablet,” the iPad was finally introduced last week with MUCH fanfare! While there has been much discussion among tech writers and analysts about what it “doesn’t” include, I think that they may have forgotten the history of the iPhone. Shortly after the iPhone launch less than 2 years ago, there was much grumbling about the limitations of the iPhone…most importantly, it’s inability to run third-party apps.

After subsequent variations and “tweaks,” Apple continued to innovate and now the App Store is one of the MOST differentiating components of the iPhone’s success.

So, what will this mean for the iPad?

I believe that the successful iPhone apps developers will REALLY embrace this new BIG-SCREEN tool and that textbook publishing, regular book reading, medical integration, newspaper publishing, rich media integration and applications that we haven’t yet imagined will cause the iPad to be another re-defining tool in  the next few years.

And don’t forget the millions of grandparents out there who are just frightened away by the “traditional” computer but who would love to stay connected with distant grandkids and adult kids and who would find the iPad non-threatening, easy and just plain fun!

Since the iPad hasn’t even been released yet, don’t count it out now. One final “arrow” that Apple has in its quiver is an international presence in over 250 Apple stores that currently have the highest per-square-foot profit of any retail outlet on the planet. Who knows what will happen when they are all able to expose this new concept IN PERSON to millions of Apple shoppers?

Hide and watch!