Many people won't buy a 1.0 Apple product because they think Apple will either add new features or drop the price quickly. (Other people are just haters looking for excuses).

When making a large purchase like an iPad, it's important to be as informed as possible. Based on years of experience following Apple and their product line, here are my predictions for the future of the iPad:

• Apple will not make hardware changes to the iPad for one full year. iPods are updated every September. iPhones are updated every June. The iPad will be updated every April.
• The iPad will get free updates to fix bugs. So don't think buying 1.0 means you have a buggy product (all iPhones are fully upgradeable).
• The cheapest iPad is $499. This will not change. Apple might add more storage and features in future revisions, but $499 will be the low point for a while. 
• The high end iPad models are where Apple makes most of its money. The 3G and memory chips cost less than $10. So these are also the models that might drop in price the most.
• There are way too many iPad models right now. This is very unlike Apple and I believe they will consolidate once they figure out which models people are buying. 
• Given all this, I predict that later this year the iPad product line will be something like:

1. $499, 16GB WiFi
2. $599, 32GB 3G
3. $699, 64GB, 3G

Bottom line: If you are on the fence about buying a 1.0 iPad, go with the cheapest model.

I don't think there will be a hardware revision this year, and I don't think there will be a price drop on the $499 iPad. Whether you are buying a computer, car, or iPad, you get the most value out of the base model, and options have diminishing returns.

Being an early adopter can be super expensive if done poorly. But it is a manageable addiction. Buy the low end model, and be sure to sell it when you upgrade.

I found it valuable so I am sharing.

As the publishing industry wobbles and Kindle sales jump, book romanticists cry themselves to sleep. But really, what are we shedding tears over?

We’re losing the throwaway paperback.
The airport paperback.
The beachside paperback.

We’re losing the dredge of the publishing world: disposable books. The book printed without consideration of form or sustainability or longevity. The book produced to be consumed once and then tossed. The book you bin when you’re moving and you need to clean out the closet.

These are the first books to go. And I say it again, good riddance.

Once we dump this weight we can prune our increasingly obsolete network of distribution. As physicality disappears, so too does the need to fly dead trees around the world.

You already know the potential gains: edgier, riskier books in digital form, born from a lower barrier-to-entry to publish. New modes of storytelling. Less environmental impact. A rise in importance of editors. And, yes — paradoxically — a marked increase in the quality of things that do get printed.

From 2003-2009 I spent six years trying to make beautiful printed books. Six years. Focused on printed books. In the 00s.

And I loved it. I loved the process. The finality of the end product. I loved the sexy-as-hell tactility of those little ink and paper bricks. But I can tell you this: the excitement I feel about the iPad as a content creator, designer and publisher — and the potential it brings — must be acknowledged. Acknowledged bluntly and with perspective.

With the iPad we finally have a platform for consuming rich-content in digital form. What does that mean? To understand just why the iPad is so exciting we need to think about how we got here.

I want to look at where printed books stand in respect to digital publishing, why we historically haven't read long-form text on screens and how the iPad is wedging itself in the middle of everything. In doing so I think we can find the line in the sand to define when content should be printed or digitized.

This is a conversation for books-makers, web-heads, content-creators, authors and designers. For people who love beautifully made things. And for the storytellers who are willing to take risks and want to consider the most appropriate shape and media for their yarns.

The entire piece is a very interesting read. If you are in any way interested in mobile technology or the future of the printed word you should head over there and read it... the future is defined by content.

How far before we go too far?

By David Goldman, staff writerFebruary 4, 2010: 2:32 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As the fanfare over Apple's new iPad reaches a fever pitch, Google is not standing idly by.

The search giant has already unveiled concept designs for its own version of a tablet, though it's unlikely that a Google tablet will hit store shelves until at least 2011.

Developers of Google Chrome OS, an open-source operating system that is set to debut in the second half of 2010, recently posted a mock tablet design on the developers' Web site chromium.org.

The design was actually unveiled two days before Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave the world its first glimpse at the iPad. But it wasn't widely noticed until this week.

According to chromium.org, Google's operating system would be optimized for a tablet that has a 5-inch to 10-inch screen, but it could work on larger devices.

The designs showed a user interface that includes large, square icons and controls, navigation tabs on the side and the ability to run multiple programs in separate, side-by-side windows at once.

The tablet running Google Chrome OS would also include a virtual keyboard at the bottom of the screen or a keyboard that could be opened in a separate window that could be placed in different areas of the screen. Applications would be placed at the bottom edge of the screen and could be opened with an upward dragging motion.

When Google first announced that it was building an operating system, the company said it was focusing on the netbook market. Though Chrome OS' developers said they are still primarily focused on netbooks, the operating system "could eventually scale to a wide variety of devices," including an iPad-like tablet computer.

"Google Chrome OS is still in development and we are constantly experimenting with various user interfaces to determine what designs would produce the best user experience," said a Google spokesman.

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) probably won't design the tablet hardware itself. Instead, as with its Nexus One smartphone, which is made by HTC but runs Google's Android operating system, Google would probably look to partner with one or more hardware makers.

Google too...

From the realm of sci-fi to Steve Jobs' stage: The iPad is official. What is it? What can it do? How does it work? Here's everything you need to know about Apple's newest creation, all in one place.

Follow the link above to an in depth look at the iPad.

It may be suddenly fashionable to say so, but the new Apple iPad tablet won’t kill the Kindle from Amazon. Here are three reasons. My colleague, Nick Bilton, has weighed in on this topic from the opposite side. Please add your thoughts in the comments section below.

The Kindle is for book lovers, and the iPad is not.

Sure, the Kindle’s potential market may have shrunk today, since the two-books-a-year folks will now choose the more versatile iPad.

But the Kindle (and other devices with E Ink screens) will continue to be the best device for lovers of long-form reading, period. (And they do love it; check the Kindle forums for the passion of Kindle owners.) The iPad’s backlit screen, higher price and more limited battery all make it a poorer choice for curling up with a novel.

Also, there’s the distraction factor. When you read a book, you just don’t want to have e-mail, Twitter and the ESPN Web site beckoning from the browser. The absence of those services on the Kindle — sure, it’s also a flaw — actually make it better for focused leisure reading.

Amazon will continue to improve on the Kindle.

A Kindle with color? With a Pixel Qi screen? A Kindle tablet to rival the iPad? One indication that Amazon plans to continue releasing new Kindles in the months and years ahead comes from the Web site of its design division, Lab126, based in Cupertino, Calif. I count a whopping 46 new job postings on the Lab126 career board in the last two months alone.

The Kindle store will continue to thrive.

Amazon smartly separated its Kindle hardware division from its Kindle e-book store and has since released or announced Kindle apps for the iPhone, PC, Mac and BlackBerry. Despite the fact that many consumers will now choose an iPad over a Kindle, Amazon will likely undercut Apple on e-book prices. (If publishers band together to withhold cheaper e-books from Amazon in favor of pricier ones on Apple, there could be some legal issues — more on this later.)

Commenting on the Apple announcement today, an Amazon spokesman, Drew Herdener, said this: “Customers can read and sync their Kindle books on the iPhone, iPod Touch, PCs, and soon BlackBerry, Mac and iPad. Kindle is purpose-built for reading. Weighing in at less than 0.64 pounds, Kindle fits comfortably in one hand for hours, has an E Ink display that is easy on the eyes even in bright daylight, two weeks of battery life, and 3G wireless with no monthly fees — all at a $259 price. Kindle editions of New York Times best sellers and most new releases are only $9.99.”

Bottom line: books, music and movies — its worldwide media business — constitute half of Amazon.com’s overall revenue. Jeff Bezos and Company have a huge stake in protecting that business as it inexorably shifts from analog atoms to digital bits.

In theory yes - a different audience. Pure readers versus multi-taskers. I could see Amazon dropping the price of tis Kindle to just under $200 to make it more palatable for those that want to have multiple devices. If I just want to read and am in the waiting room somewhere I will either check emails or my feeds on the BlackBerry or I will pop out the Kindle and go back to my book.