The blogosphere is alive with reviews. The retail stores are  counting days to get their hands on it. The world is eagerly waiting. All because, its ipad time.

Will ipad time be as good as ipod time and iphone time? Circumstances are a bit different. For both ipod and iphone, Apple ventured into totally alien territories for them and revolutionized that territory. So in a way, they were underdogs there. So the weight of expectation was much lighter. And mistakes, however few there were, had been overlooked.

But this time, ipod is very much within Apple’s area of expertise. So the reviews will be more thorough. The criticisms for tiniest mistake will be harsher.

Some 30 years ago two gentlemen names Al Ries and Jack Trout introduced us the concept called brand positioning and told us that the greatest brand positioning trick is to create a new category and be the first in it to own that category. 2010 ipad launch will forever be the testament to that notion. Because the biggest questions that ipad will have to answer is that since its too big to be portable and too small to be used as a personal computer, where the hell is the need for it?

Knowing Apple, one can only assume Apple has an answer for that. In fact, the answer is probably out there in long lines and huge pre-orders. To understand Apple’s success, one has to look beyond the way a product interacts with a human being because thats not the way Apple users interact with their product. They interact with their Apple like a human being interacts with another human being. They like to touch it, feel it and bond with it.

Understanding that will probably give you an idea that ipad is going to be another phenomenon. Will this be the future of computing? Dont know. Will this be the future of publishing? Probably. But one thing is for sure, with ipad being here, the way we look at the future for now, will definitely change.