In the last two weeks, I’ve been following very closely the launch of the Apple Tablet, unoriginally called “iPad”.

Unless you’ve been living under a cave, you know that there’s been a lot of hype around this tablet computer. In fact, one columnist at the Wall Street Journal said that “the last time there was so much excitement around a tablet, the 10 commandments were written on it!”

———————–
Special iPad Offer:
Order my course “How to Write and Sell Your Own eBooks “within the next 48 hours, and get a 30% discount on the course! Use the coupon code IPAD
http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/writeyourebook.html
———————–

In a typical Apple way, the marketing and anticipation around this product has been incredible. If you want to study how to launch a product, try to reproduce what Apple is doing in on a smaller scale, and you’ll be very successful!

iPad is launching on Saturday in the USA, and I must say I’ve never been as excited about a technology product as I am for this. I won’t be able to get one before the end of the month, but I can’t wait!

And more importantly, I’m very excited about where the eBook market is going, and I now believe that if by the end of 2010 you don’t have at least one or two eBooks for sale, you’d be a complete FOOL and you will be missing the boat in a major way. But more on that in a moment.

Why iPad Will Be a Game-Changer

A lot of people don’t really see how Apple could be successful launching what is essentially a “giant iPhone” and why this product is going to be revolutionary.

When I told a friend of mine, who’s also an Internet Marketer, why I was going to get an iPad, he predicted that Apple would fail with this product. He said, “I don’t really see the point of iPad. Try to sell it to me! You won’t be able to. It can’t everything a computer can, and it can’t fit in your pocket like an iPhone.”

My friend thought the only reason I would buy an iPad is because I tend to buy almost every product Apple makes.

Yet, I also believe my friend to be absolutely wrong and I’m 100% convinced the iPad will be a huge success.

First, why would you or anyone need a big multi-touch screen?

In a few words, it’s for the intimate experience you will develop with this device.

The iPad is essentially going to fill a need that isn’t filled by any other device at the moment.

It will serve as a content-consumption hub and practical mobile computer you can take anywhere.

People are going to use it to share photos with their friends, watch movies, write notes, surf the web on their couch — and do all these things that they could be doing using a computer, but in an experience that’s much more intimate and enjoyable.

The iPad is essentially a blank slate. The apps are going to make the device, just like the apps on the iPhone turned a “cool phone” into an indispensable device for many people.

eBooks and the iPad

One thing that people are going to do on the iPad is to read eBooks.

A few years ago, I thought that eBooks would soon be dead and be replaced by more exciting forms of media such as video.

And I was wrong!

Instead of dropping, eBook sales have increased! With the introduction of Amazon’s kindle, eBooks are more popular than ever.

But the problem with eBooks is that most people don’t really have any kind of device to read them.

The Kindle is supposed to be a solution for that, but Kindle has been designed for avid readers, not for the average person.

I own two Kindle and love them for reading non-fiction books and novels. It’s truly a great device and with the e-ink technology, you can read it in bright daylight and for long periods of time.

The Kindle only does one thing well: display text-heavy non-fiction books and novels. For other forms of documents, such as PDFs or documents containing a lot of maps, the Kindle is a terrible device.

The pages don’t refresh very fast, and images show up in black and white and are not always easy to use.

I thought for example that I could use the Kindle to avoid bringing travel books when I go on a trip, but because travel books contain a lot of images and maps, reading them on a Kindle is a poorer experience than on the book.

The Kindle is a revolution for readers everywhere, but the problem is that most people don’t read a lot.

The average person reads less than one book in a year, if they read at all.

They might buy eBooks or books once in a while, but never read them cover to cover.

So for the vast majority of people, the Kindle is simply not an attractive device.

Enter the iPad, with its gorgeous screen, multi-touch technology, blazing speed processor — a device that people can use to watch movies, browse the web, answer emails, share photos, and do a LOT of other things, in addition to occasionally reading eBooks.

NOW you have a device that can reach the masses, and where YOUR eBooks and other electronic content can be consumable.

A columnist recently said, “If you like your kids, get them an iPad. If you LOVE them, get them a Kindle”.

In other words, the iPad will be a great distraction and entertainment device, while the Kindle remains a reading device with more educational value.

Even though eBooks are popular, about 50% of my readers still prefer to pay more to get a hard copy of an eBook, even if in addition to the higher cost they have to pay for shipping.

But if they had an iPad, they would probably opt for the digital version, knowing that they can read it easily on that device, comfortable in their lazy chair.

I think it’s going to take a year or two for people to realize it, but the iPad is going to create a revolution in the computer world. You’ll start seeing people who might even ONLY get an iPad and no other computer, because it’s so easy to use and they don’t need to do much other than browsing the web, watching videos and sending emails.

Of course, right now the device is a little expense. The early adopters like me are going to get it first, but in a year or two, the price is probably going to go down to at about $299 for the entry-level model.

And by then, tens of millions of people will have a device they can use to read YOUR ebooks.

I’m seeing at the moment in my business that eBooks are easy to sell (especially if they contain additional multi-media bonuses such as videos).

eBooks are also easier to create than other types of information product.

If you’re NOT selling your eBooks yet, you NEED to get started. Are you going to sit there and miss the boat, or capture this opportunity and start earning a living on the Internet?

The best way to get started is my course “How to Write and Sell Your Own eBooks in 24 Hours or Less”:
http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/writeyourebook.html

Special iPad Offer:
If you order within the next 48 hours, get a 30% discount on the course! Use the coupon code IPAD