Your Views: Is the Apple iPad worth buying?

With the Apple iPad's arrival in the hands of eager customers - in the US, at least - over the weekend, we asked IT PRO readers if they wanted to pick up one of the tablet computers.

It seems our readers are not all Apple fanboys - or maybe the followers of Steve Jobs were all busy when we ran our survey.

Just 18 per cent said they planned to get an iPad soon, while 37 per cent claimed they never will. Another 30 per cent said they have no plans to yet, but might in the future.

So why are our readers shying away from the iPad?

Of course, there were echoes of the refrain that's been heard since the device was launched: "Looks like a big iPhone."

One respondent said: "It's pointless, unexpandable, non-multi-tasking, closed platform."

Another said: "I am questioning its portability, and I would like to know how practical it is for typing. But as a web surfing tool, or for watching films it looks like a winner."

The lack of Flash came up frequently, as did the missing camera and the cost, which many saw as simply too high. One reader said it's "totally useless," another complained about the "totalitarian control that Apple holds over the device".

There were other descriptions of Apple, but they used words not fit to print...

And this is from a readership that has owned an Apple product before. Some 71 own one or more devices from the California firm, while only 10 per cent say they never have and never will.

Tablet market

Those surveyed showed some uncertainty about how the iPad would affect the market. Some 33 per cent said "maybe" when asked if it would spark a tablet-buying revolution, while 26 per cent said the keyboard-less devices were too much of a niche product.

Another 32 per cent think the iPad will do for tablets what the iPod did for MP3 players.

Some 30 per cent of our surveyed readers think Apple is an over-hyped company, but 44 per cent agree that the firm has earned some of its kudos.

Over a third think the company is entirely overrated, while 20 per cent think it's earned every nice thing said about it.