That new iPad calls for some seriously deep ipockets
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While it remains to be seen whether Apple’s new iPad tablet will ultimately change the publishing business the way the iPod has changed the landscape of the music industry, the fact that it’s essentially an outsize iTouch (which itself is basically an
I mean, technically speaking it’s portable (but then again, so’s a bone-in ham). But where, are you going to stash that 71.4-square-inch, pound-and-a half gleaming slab of multimedia ambrosia when it’s time to put down your e-version of ‘Catcher in the Rye’ and catch your commuter flight straight home to Nerdvana?
Not to worry. It seems the folks at Scottevest, maker of those 22-pocket travel vests you’ve seen advertised in the Sky Mall catalogs, have been on the case, and shortly after Steve Jobs announced the tablet and its specifications were revealed, the Sun Valley, Idaho, company threw the above graphic up on its website.
But it didn’t require any heavy lifting, says Scottevest’s founder and Chief Executive Scott Jordan. It turns out the roomy ‘PubPocket’ (No. 19 of the 22 pockets), originally envisioned as a cargo hold for newspapers, magazines and maps, will easily icommodate the iPad.
‘We were keeping a close eye on the dimensions,’ Jordan told me earlier today. ‘And that pocket was designed to fit a legal pad which is 8 1/2 by 11 3/4 [inches].’ (The iPad specifications have it clocking in at 9.56 by 7.47 inches). ‘And as soon as Jobs’ announcement was over, we started getting phone calls and e-mails. Our new graphic was up about an hour later.’
Though iPad won’t actually meet iPocket until the device is actually released in late March*, Jordan, who says he’s stowed his own netbook computer in one of those selfsame pockets, is confident Apple’s newest gizmo will be a good fit -- as long as you order a size medium or larger jacket or vest. ‘A Kindle fits in there perfectly, and that’s probably the closet kind of device to what we’re talking about with the iPad.’
And since you don’t need to wait until March, you can order one now (vests run $100, jackets $175 to $250). Which might not be a bad idea since navigating the confines of the neighborhood Starbucks with a pound and a half of technology tucked over your tummy -- no matter how efficiently secreted -- is bound to make you walk a little funny.
I don’t know what the inevitably awkward gait will look like, but I sure know what I’m going to call it.
That’s right: the iPad shuffle.
[*Updated: In an earlier version of this post, I said the Apple iPad was scheduled for release ‘next month.’ The first models are reported to be due out in late March, 3G-networked models a month later.]
-- Adam Tschorn
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