David Fiske Affiliate Marketing & Web Development

This last week I have been debating whether to get an iPad. I have a stack of content to edit and publish which should in-turn boost affiliate commissions. I have circa 4,000 product reviews to work through.

I know and you know that's not going to happen in day-to-day mode so I wondered how I could find more time. The answer is to work whilst in front of the TV. Sure productivity would be low but low is greater than nothing.

The problem for me consists of many things, price being the biggest barrier.
 


I've chatted to a few people and the overall feedback about the iPad is mixed. Some have said it's a gimmick nothing more than a wonderful way to tweet in the bath! Other's have said it's the best thing since sliced bread. Here's the main issues everyone has raised.

Cost

Undoubtedly the iPad seems very expensive for what it is. There aren't any real competitors yet so they (Apple) pretty much have total market share of the slate tablet PC market. The cheaper alternative is an aPad or an ePad from China, running Google Android. These have the advantage of price but appear to have poorly set up software with a less responsive screen.

Software

The iPad software is great. I spent half an hour in my local Apple Store and love how smooth and slick it is. The biggest selling point has to be the very nice on-screen keyboard, very important given the intended use for the slate.

As for alternatives, I've seen the tiny Windows 7 on-screen keyboard as well as the Android keyboard and nothing matches the iPad.

Apps

"There's an app for just about anything". It's true. The Chinese pads running Android 2.1 don't yet have Android Market and I think apps for Windows are the same on a slate as for a big standard PC.

I would love to be able to listen to Spotify away from the PC but the only way to do that is to get an iPod or an iPad.

Accessories

It's true to say the word of accessories is tailored to Apple. Have a look at Hi-Fi stereos in Comet or Currys and you'll see a large amount of them have iPod docks. Not "MP3 docks", specifically "iPod docks".

Hardware and accessories are already being tailored to the iPad leaving other tablets in the cold.

So what's the decision?

I feel very much like a yo-yo. I've been thinking Yes, then No, then Yes, then No, and now thinking "!?!?!!?!" !

I've emailed dozens of people, all with different perspectives. I've tweeted several questions and had some interesting responses. One tweet in particular caught my eye and it was from Mark Boyd, who has just published more on how he managed to get a free iPad by offering Affiliate Window an exclusive 5 year advertising deal in exchange for a 32GB Wifi 3G iPad. That seems like good value for both parties. It equates to £600 over 5 years worth of income for Mark for running a banner.

It's a clever way to get an iPad but I'm sincerely doubtful anyone would want to exclusively sponsor my site :-D

Competitions have been fruitless too. Incentives are out there but in the wrong sectors for me.

Ultimately, I reckon I'm going to have to pay for one if I want one and if that's the case, I'm not sure I can stomach £499 for the 32GB Wifi only version. I think the way forward is a 32GB iPod Touch (3rd gen) to take advantage of the app world and a cheap Chinese tablet to try and get some more work done. The two combined would still be cheaper than an iPad, albeit not quite the same thing.

Hopefully in a year there will be more choice in the slate tablet world. There's plenty of rumour but no substance.

Right, I'm back off to eBay...