If you have ever found yourself wishing for a medium between the iPhone and the MacBook, rejoice! Steve Jobs and the Apple family have been expecting their latest brain child for quite a while now.

Yesterday afternoon, Apple announced that in a mere 60 days, a new member of the family will be born, the iPad.

Those of you who have not yet been subjected to the speculative blog posts from the past two years circulating rumors of the iPad may be asking yourself, what in the name of Otto the Orange is an iPad?

In its most simplistic definition, an iPad is an electronic tablet. Imagine a hybrid of an iPhone and a MacBook, only bigger and more capable than the former while lighter and more convenient than the latter.

Expected to weigh in at 1.5 pounds and be half an inch thick with a 9.7 inch display, the newest addition to Apple is expected to cause quite the stir. Whether the iPad will emerge as the redheaded stepchild of the Apple family or the shining beacon that gets his homework on the fridge is yet to be seen.

While some critics are comparing the usefulness of the iPad to that of a rock, Jobs stands as a proud papa, referring to his latest creation as ‘a truly magical and revolutionary product.’

For starters, the tablet will include all the perks of the iPhone. Apple’s beloved collection of Apps will be fully functional on the iPad. The iTunes, calendar, maps and Internet browsing will also be in the iPad. In that sense, this tablet is just more of the same old, same old.

Beyond the standard fare, it will also offer many of the necessities of a laptop. A new version of iWork has been engineered to be usable on the iPad’s massive touch screen, and Keynote, Numbers and Pages will accompany it.

Of course, each iPad will come equipped with standard Wi-Fi capabilities and optional 3G connection. Bad news: Apple’s exclusivity with AT&T will extend to this new creation. Good news: You do not have to sign a long-term contract with AT&T to sign up for the 3G service. A 250MB plan will cost $14.99, while an unlimited plan will only cost you $29.99, according to The New York Times.

However, there are a lot of things unique to the iPad. The iPad is reported to have e-reader capabilities. Taking into consideration its screen size and portability, the iPad stands to give the Amazon Kindle a run for its money. Especially with the emergence of the new App, iBooks, Apple plans to offer the same great titles with the same ease as Amazon.

So, what’s not to like? To start, the touch screen. While yours truly is a fan of mouse-less and keyboard-less creations, those who boast fake nails or are naturally adverse to touch-pad typing may have a couple qualms. One of the iPad’s soon-to-be-countless accessories is a keyboard dock. This device supports the iPad with a screen while providing the typical upright screen flat keyboard layout.

If the touch screen doesn’t bother you, the price just might. If you opt to go without 3G you’ll be dropping $499 on the 16GB model, $599 on the 32GB model and, following suit, $699 on the 64GB model. If you want a model with 3G capabilities, the 16GB model starts at $629 and increases in intervals of $100 per storage category. Sure, Jobs mentioned ‘magical and revolutionary,’ but pricey, not so much.

Will this pricey little Apple offspring mark the beginning of successful tablets? With some people already condemning the iPad to be a short-lived fad, it’s dubious. Is there room for a middle child in the Apple family, or will the big and little siblings retain too much customer loyalty to share the limelight?

The only way to tell, unfortunately, will be time. While Jobs’ bun in the oven finishes developing over its last trimester, keep in mind that it will only be a short 59 days to wait for the Wi-Fi-only version, and 89 days for the 3G.

Jessica Smith is a sophomore information technologies management and television, radio and film major. Her column appears every Thursday and she can be reached at jlsmit22@syr.edu.

Published on January 27, 2010 at 12:00 pm