I think this is really the key. I was an iPad naysayer, mostly because I saw it as an overgrown iPhone without any additional functionality, which it mostly is.

About 5 months ago, I took a management job that has me traveling all over the US and eastern Canada, which results in long days and long stretches where I can't use my laptop. I got a case for my iPhone with an extra battery, but it would still be out of battery power before I got to my hotel for the night. Yes, the Blackberry is better on battery, but it doesn't do anything capably except for email. I had one and I despised it.

So, I bought an iPad so I can stand in airport terminals, sky lounges, shuttle busses, taxi cabs, and security lines and do email, trying to keep the amount of work I need to do in my hotel room at night to a somewhat reasonable amount. The iPad battery lasts a whole day, and another benefit is that my iPhone battery now lasts the whole day, because I'm not constantly on the data network.

So that's one definition of "productivity" to consider: can I use otherwise wasted time to get some work done? The iPad definitely lets me do that, where I don't have room to open a laptop. It's very difficult to use even a small laptop/netbook when you're standing and don't have a place to set it.

Since getting it for email, I've found that it's definitely more than just a big iPhone, to my surprise. It's an outstanding reading device, and I can carry a lot of books and technical documentation with me on airplanes and at customers in this tiny little device. Yes, I know that you can technically do this on an iPhone or a small laptop, but it is vastly easier/better on the iPad. I think it's a combination of the aspect ratio (portrait) and ultra-high resolution screen. A lot of what a "knowledge worker" does is consume information, whether in emails, web sites, books, or whatever, and the iPad is a brilliant device for this.

I also have a little adapter and I can plug the iPad into a projector and give presentations or share technical documents with customers.

The keyboard sucks compared to a real buckling-spring, "clackety" keyboard, but so does everything. I'm a fast touch typist on a real keyboard, but with a little practice I can now *almost* touch type on the iPad screen (though not when standing -- that's thumb typing; the iPad has two keyboard modes, the split keyboard for thumb typing is great when standing or riding in cabs). It's adequate. When I'm in my hotel or an office, I open the laptop and go to town.

It's definitely a productivity enhancer for me on the road.

Jim