You may not need an Apple iPad right now or think you’ll need it this year but mark my words, you will need it in one year. People aren’t quite sure what they do with it and to them I say wait and see. Time and early adopters will show you its many uses and how it fits into your life.

The iPad is definitely a pure consumption product, right now. As time goes on we will see more and more apps that are full-featured utilities. These will end up augmenting your day to day routines as you find yourself wanting to spend more time on such a compelling device.

Apple does an amazing thing for the computing industry and consumers in general. It sets the pace and tells you not what you want but what you will want. Apple creates demand and then effectively supplies it. A different way of doing things but Apple’s old motto is Think Differently.

They aren’t without their detractors. I definitely hear what detractors are saying. Yes the iPad doesn’t have a camera, video camera or support flash amongst other things. I also see that Apple is incremental with their firmware and hardware updates. This is to essentially milk as much money out of you as possible and keep you in the renewable consumption game. Essentially there’s no difference between the first iPhone and the latest iPhone if you really think about it.

My friend Carl put it keenly in a comment he made on my last post. Apple isn’t revolutionary; they’re evolutionary. Modernism has been going on since the 50′s. Nothing new here. They just took someone else’s style and applied it to their industry. Great artists steal.

Carl also had another great point that goes back to why you’ll need an iPad in a year. The major news services are essentially providing free advertising for the iPad, further fueling the feeding frenzy and stoking the fires of consumers. All this talk will drive you into an Apple store, you’ll play with the iPad, then you’ll want it. Even if you don’t understand or don’t want it right now you’re still curious and you’ll eventually come into contact with it. Call it the Puppy Effect.

As far as why you’ll really need an iPad a year down the road goes back to my previous point about how Apple sets the pace. Competitors may have had tablet pc’s before the iPad just like they had mp3 players before the iPod. What Apple does is to signal to consumers and competitors that a certain type of product is now a part of your life.

What will end up happening a year down the road is that consumers will have found all the little ways that the iPad makes their lives easier and better. Competitors will start creating competing products in droves to fuel the market even more. Technology and non-technology product creators will start creating accessories. Designers will start molding their creations to fit the iPad. Thus the iPad will become a part of your world one way or another.

You may not need an iPad a year or two years from now. What will eventually happen is that technology will advance so much that physical keyboards will become a thing of the past and the iPad will seem like a logical choice. If you think Apple doesn’t have plans on your entire life you’re dead wrong. If you think Apple isn’t already a part of your whole life then you’re sadly mistaken.