Rarely has a technology product been launched with as much fanfare as Apple's iPad that debuted this week. Chattanooga-area buyers are showing them around, displaying what the iPad can do.
If those same people can explain how it will revolutionize their lives, as the hype would have us believe, then they're ahead of the game.
The iPad is something between a smart phone (you can't make calls from the iPad) and bulkier laptops. The problem is that many consumers aren't sure what to do with something in between.
Travelers who need even a moderate level of word processing and mobile telephone connectivity will have to carry three devices if they want to bring their iPad.
Early predictions that the iPad would create a go-anywhere revolution led to a sort of hipness that provoked desire.
In technology, that can go only so far, however. That's why some are suggesting the iPad's early sales sizzle may fizzle.
If so, how can it be revolutionary?
The answer is in the applications, or apps, fast becoming available. Smart phones taught us that consumer hunger for easy-to-use, downloaded gadgets is more insatiable than imagined.
That's where the iPad comes in. Similarly relying on apps, the product is smaller than a laptop but easier to read than a smart phone with far-more-impressive visuals.
Exploding smart phone usage on products made by a myriad of companies suggests the iPad and other forthcoming devices like it will live up to its potential -- eventually.
But to have a real revolution, some evolution may be required.
E-mail David Magee at dmagee@timesfreepress.com.