If and when the ‘iPad’ arrives, it won’t be a stopgap solution

Whether the rumored "iPad" comes out this year or next, Apple will almost certainly position the device (assuming it even exists; the company has made no official statement about it) as a mobile computing device, NOT as a laptop. 

In other words, the iPad (or, as I prefer to call it, the iBook) will be a cross between an iPod touch and MacBook, but designed for surfing the web, viewing videos, listening to tunes and reading ebooks, not for general computing purposes. Apple's goal will be to convince you that you need a Mac and an iPad (as well as an iPhone, of course). 

Research and Markets says that, after sales of 13 million units in 2008, the netbook is emerging as the mobile Internet device of choice for mass-market customers. The research group says that, despite concerns about their small size and cramped keyboards, netbooks are "perfectly capable of creating value, first and foremost for mobile broadband operators." 

The immediate outcome of their arrival in the market is to boost both computer and broadband penetration, especially in the mobile sector. (Research and Markets forecasts that in 2014 more than half of all netbooks will be sold by fixed and mobile operators in bundles with broadband Internet service.) And this is what Apple doubtless plans to capitalize on. In fact, the iPad could be bundled with broadband plans. 

Research and Markets says that netbooks are a strategic tool for companies to take advantage of until the global economy recovers and users are ready -- and able to afford -- to migrate to more sophisticated devices. That may be the plans of some companies; however, I think Apple will position the iPad (again, assuming it's truly coming) as a complement to a desktop or laptop Mac, not as a stop-gap measure.