The iPad is a device you want, but don't need. It departs radically from what consumers think they want from a PC. One month prior to the iPad's launch, a Forrester survey of more than 4,500 US online consumers revealed the top features consumers said they wanted in their next PC purchase. Two-thirds of US online consumers want a DVD drive, but this feature, along with other most-wanted features like CD burners and webcams, are absent from the iPad. The iPad's features, such as the touchscreen, are lower on consumers' wish list, with only 22 percent desiring a touchscreen for their next PC. This doesn't mean consumers won't buy the iPad, it just means that Apple has a steep education process ahead of it. Apple and its future tablet competitors need to teach consumers that they can live without these standard PC components in their tablet device—and in fact, the experience can be better for it.
This education process should not discourage future tablet success. In fact, it is finally the right time to introduce a fourth form factor (desktops, laptops, and netbooks are the first three) to the consumer PC market, since it's now the norm for households to own multiple PCs.
via arstechnica.com