As several women asked around the net, “Are there no women in Apple’s marketing department?”

The jokes are flying thick and fast about the name, of course. Did Apple not realize that MADtv had done a parody of Apple iPad years ago? Comparisons with Maxi Pads are bound to happen. Jezebel.com probably has the best compilation of jokes on the name.

Elsewhere, I stumbled on this joke:

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Zune.

Zune who?

Zune, I’ll be the second worst named gadget in the world.

I can sort of understand it if a Japanese company names its product Wii, but an American one?

Technically also, this device falls way short of what it can deliver. This is a Tegra-type device in terms of computing power. So why no multi-tasking? Why limit this to the iPhone OS, when the Mac OS X is probably a much better fit for a laptop replacement? Moreover, this is again in the iTunes ecosystem, so probably needs to be tethered to a Mac for installing apps or loading content. No camera, non-standard SIM card – tying you down to AT&T, non-standard ports – the iPad does not even have a USB port, one needs to buy an adapter for that (and even then its functionality is limited to camera connection).

The worst of it is the condescending behaviour of Apple in describing it as a magical device. Come on, we have much better and innovative products out there. MSI today unveiled a 10-inch tablet powered by Android. Always Innovating actually delivered their tablet/laptop hybrid featuring such innovations as a separating keyboard section (a la Star Trek’s saucer separation).

When the iPod came out, it was not the first MP3 player, it was the first one that made it easy to use an MP3 player. Look at the evolution of that range. Over time, Apple has tried to exert ever more control on what people could do with the hardware they purchase. Firstly through requiring iTunes to sync. Then further tying things down with the App Store. The iPhone (which is an evolved iPod Touch) locked in to a single carrier.

And now, a large iPhone.Well, I’m not getting one. So there!

The operating system is Maemo, a Debian derivative. So far, I have found it very intuitive and user-friendly, while being the powerful system underneath. There are many (generally very positive) reviews out there and I am quite sure I will do one myself, but suffice to say that it has met all my expectations so far – except for the irritating problem with syncing with gmail!

What’s good?

• Eye Candy – lots of it
• Speed – this thing is quick and responsive always
• Bounce Evolution – ’nuff said
• Dashboard – four virtual desktops, just like the way I like it
• Skype Integration – when a Skype IM lands in the conversation window, it is a moment of Zen
• 32 GB of space

What’s Bad?

• The aforementioned lack of google sync.

That’s all for now. Pictures and more later.