iWant. Even though it does not have a camera, cannot multitask and does not support flash, most people even the slightest aware of an iPad want to own one. Of the rest, while some evangelize netbooks, others are simply content with features that the Amazon Kindle DX offers. Different people want and need different things. Lack of a few features might be a deal breaker for some, while others might not even feel that there’s anything missing. The iPad has been compared, by some, to a rock, a beach, netbooks and the Amazon Kindle DX — an eBook reader that costs about the same.

This article highlights some plus points of some of these devices that are being pitted against each other all over the internet. If you can’t decide what you want or need, this article might be of some help.

The iPad, the new tablet computing device from Apple, to a lot of people, is just a bigger iPhone (the 3G version). The iPhone was a revolutionary product. Handset makers once assumed that only businessmen and women needed smartphones and Apple proved how wrong they were by empowering “casual” users with the iPhone. For example, a content friend of mine once had a phone with GPRS, a color display and a camera (with flash) and she was sure she wanted nothing more in a mobile phone. Things changed when she got an iPhone as a gift. Apart from synchronizing all her email accounts on the iPhone, she uses Facebook, books movie tickets, uses maps to navigate, keeps to-do lists, finds answers on Wikipedia and takes and uploads more pictures than ever, all on the go! The point here is that she has bought and uses the experience that Apple sells.

Similarly with the iPad, Apple is not just selling a tablet computer. It is selling an experience. By simplifying and making the user interface extremely intuitive and developing a touch screen that responds as expected, Apple has given non-techies something to crave for. Among other things, the iPad lets you browse the internet, watch movies and videos, read email, listen to music and read eBooks.

However, there are some basic scenarios which will not work on the iPad. Embedded videos on some websites might not work for one, because of the lack of support for flash. Video chat, too, will not work on the iPad right out of the box as the tablet does not have an inbuilt camera. And because there is no multitasking for third party apps, a user cannot, for example, listen to internet radio and browse the internet simultaneously. However, the iPod app on the iPhone runs fine in the background and should work the same way on the iPad.

eBook readers on the other hand like the Amazon Kindle DX are great for reading books. They have specially designed screens which don’t strain your eyes and can be used for reading for long periods of time. They can also be used in bright light.

The Amazon Kindle DX, just over 1/3rd of an inch thick and with a screen the same size as that of the iPad, has a couple of other great features as well. Apart from letting you read books on it, it lets you subscribe to newspapers, magazines and blogs. It has remarkable battery life and lets you read for up to a whole week on a single charge. The content delivery system set up by Amazon gives you access to over 400,000 books that can be downloaded on to the Kindle “in under 60 seconds,” without needing a computer.

Reading books is just one of the things the iPad is designed for. While the experience Steve Jobs talks about seems promising, it is very unlikely that the iPad can replace eBook readers. Most avid readers will prefer buying the eBook readers primarily because of the battery life of these devices and the e-ink display which reads like real paper. To sell as expected, however, they must get cheaper. The fact that one version of the iPad costs as much as the DX will certainly make potential DX buyers go for the iPad attracted by more features.

Netbooks, in the words of Steve Jobs, “aren’t really better at anything.” They’re just cheaper laptops. However, for those who need mobility, don’t really care about performance and often have a limited budget, there are a few cases in which a netbook will actually be better than the iPad. To name a few, while the keyboards on netbooks are smaller than those on laptops, they are far better for long term writing than the virtual keyboard on the iPad. For those who use Skype for long distance calls, webcams are essential and most netbooks come with one. Also, netbooks come with at least 160 GB of storage space which translates into more music and movies for media buffs. As a programmer, I have on occasions appreciated being able to code on the go using a netbook, although the netbook wasn’t fast enough and my code was buggier than usual because of typos caused by the smaller keyboard.

While neither netbooks, nor the iPad are meant to be primary computers, netbooks come closer to replacing the ultra portable laptops.  One major advantage that netbooks have is that they come in various shapes and sizes with a wide price range. The new ones run Windows 7, which is, considered by many, one of the best operating systems yet. Google is also targeting netbooks with their new operating system, the Chrome OS.

A lot of the negative reactions the iPad is getting are because of its name that has many inappropriate innuendos stuffed in it, such as hygiene products for the ladies. Though a lot of this talk against the iPad is in favor of the Kindle and other netbooks, the price of the iPad is a major selling point. For a safe existence, Netbook and eBook reader manufacturers might want to consider dropping the prices of their products.