Has iPad cost Steve Jobs his sparkle?

APPLE chief executive Steve Jobs may have taken a little shine off his sparkling ability to convince the world to tune in to the launch of a new Apple product.

The tablet PC the world had waited for since whispers about a "Kindle rival" emerged in May last year was unveiled yesterday to the usual extravagant media fanfare, with trademark beskivvied Jobs and giant screen treatment.

Yet within hours of introducing the world to the "game-changing" iPad, the vast majority of reviews and consumer feedback was homing in on what it didn't do, as opposed to what it did.

It seems the iPad has almost none of the wow-factor of Apple's previous launches, the iPhone and iPod - devices that undoubtably changed the way the world communicated.

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Instead, tech writers and Apple fanboys and girls were left to fight it out over how a machine quickly coined as a "giant iPhone" was the next big leap forward for the iconic Californian company.

And as a list of iPad pitfalls quickly coalesced and spread through the internet community, Apple shares reacted, dropping 3.5 per cent after gaining one per cent just prior to the launch.

In contrast, Amazon - the manufacturer of the Kindle, iPad's main e-book competitior - gained one per cent.

In Australia, opinion was guarded, mainly because the details of what version would be shipped out and at what cost were hazy at best.

If it mirrored the iPhone's launch, Australians would be more inclined to wait for the 3G version, which could be up to six months away and will cost substantially more (close to $700) than the wifi version expected to arrive in April ($560).

There's also some concern that Australians won't be able to access content from Apple's iBook store - at least until the end of the year.

But aside from local worries, the consensus among the iPad's detractors centred on:

The display - the iPad's backlit LCD screen is too bright for extended e-book reading.

Battery life - At 10 hours, it's ahead of any netbook, but still a good 20 or 30 hours behind any e-book on the market.

Security - If your iPad gets stolen, there's apparently no way to remotely lock it.

Apps lock-out - The iPad only runs apps from Apple's App Store. Which is a lot of apps, admittedly, but not everyone's happy about Apple's inconsistency when it come to what apps it allows for sale.

Camera - There isn't one.

USB input - There isn't any. At least, not without an adapter.

No Flash - Without Flash, forget about displaying around the majority of internet content the way you could on a netbook or laptop.

Multitasking - Is impossible on the iPad, which means you can only use one application at a time, reducing its functionality as a work computer to little more than a large iPhone.

No HDMI - So you won't be sitting back to watch any movies you download from iTunes on your TV.

Obviously, it's the first look from Apple at what is essentially a first generation machine, despite the fact that tablet computers have been around for a decade, so users can expect at least several of the iPad's perceived shortcomings to be rectified in one way or another over the next 12 months.