Well it really was a Tabla Raza, and this is why I won’t be buying one

January 25th of this year I listed my predictions for what is now being called the Apple iPad. You might say that the implementation is a bit shy of my predictions.

• It’s not as thin as I thought
• The dimensions are about right; I guessed 11″ (I meant for the diagonal including the display, but the delivered display is 9.7″)
• I was right about the SSD, but I thought that it would be of a useful size
• Looks like it is inspired in part by the Mac Air
• No USB – oops got that wrong — how could they omit USB?
• As of this writing, it is not known how much RAM is in the iPad — dude, I would not buy the thing for that reason alone
• Sure enough, the battery is not removable, so you’ll have to find some other way of extending life
• Nothing special for handwriting recognition
• The OS is iPhone OS 3.2, not Mac OS-X Touch — users will pay for that decision
• WiFi and no WiMax
• Cellular service from AT&T, a decidedly inferior data network to Verizon
• Well, it does have speakers, microphone, and headphone jack, but no camera — you’re kidding — no camera
• iTunes access for sure

In addition to those shortcomings, here are some others that are truly surprising:

• The browser does not support Flash; you will suffer in your web browsing
• No multi-tasking
• No video output
• The dock does not do what you expect
• No printing to a connected device; get ready to buy a Wifi printer or make some other arrangements
• No optical drive
• Eye strain is likely to be a problem trying to read for extended periods of time due to the display technology choice
• iPhone apps may display very small unless they have been re-written for the iPad

You decide. No iPad for me…maybe never.