The iPad: Everything you know about computers just changed

Well, that’s how I opened my Star-Ledger column about the iPad: “Everything you know about computers just changed.” Not really because of the iPad itself, but because of the way you interact with it. As I say in my column, you can sum this up in one word: touch. The more I use my iPhone, the more I see touch technology, like Apple’s multitouch interface, as being the key to computing in coming years. As I put it in my column:

The iPad signals the moment when computers changed from being bulky products tethered to desktops and power cords to thin, portable devices you can carry in one hand and slip into a backpack.

Sure, there are lots of questions about the iPad, and complaints (too heavy; no camera; no Flash), but this is just the initial version, and we can expect it to get better and better. With its ability to connect to Apple’s wireless keyboard, I expect I’ll be using an iPad as my main computer.