2 years ago it was the netbook, which was supposedly going to make the laptop obsolete. Technology experts predicted that maybe netbooks will replace laptops in just a few years, as most people will enjoy the portability and the flexibility of a netbook. Some conservative views suggested that the netbook will be a second PC (now why would anyone need a second PC), or it will bridge the gap between the phone and a laptop (who created that gap anyway?).

I bought a netbook over 2 years ago, and right now it’s sitting somewhere gathering dust. Here’s my problem with it: The screen is very small (it hurts my eyes), it’s slow, the keyboard is minuscule (it’s painful to use it for typing), and most importantly, I never ever needed it. Why would I need this useless machine when I have my laptop.

Now let’s talk about the tablets. In fact, my friend was just showing me his ipad today, it’s sleek, it’s beautiful, but, as I mentioned before, it’s a toy (this thing can’t even run two applications at once, this reminds me of the birth of the Operating Systems). Apple did a great job designing the exterior and the interface of the ipad, but did a very poor job when it comes to its Operating System.

Now some people (that may or may not benefit from the realization of this dream) believe that $1,000 tablets will make laptops obsolete. There are two mistakes in this statement, first, is that it’ll take a much lower price to make laptops obsolete (good laptops can be bought for less than $500), second, laptops are light years ahead in terms of technology. Unless tablets evolve into something more than a toy, then don’t dream of it. I don’t hate tablets, but I just don’t see it happening. Just to prove my point that this is a toy, I asked my friend what does he usually do with his tablet, so he demonstrated several applications, including, but not limited to: Talking Tom, an application to locate Tim Hortons, and last but not least, the Fart Piano. He tried to be cool by pretending that he’s using also this thing for his email, but that’s about it. In short, you’re paying over $600 for a toy that can read your email.

There is huge potential for the ipad (especially when it comes to using ipad as an exclusive source for reading newspapers), but Apple has grown so big, so fast, and it’s raising a lot of eyebrows.

Ipad is very expensive, currently unnecessary, and it will never ever replace laptops, although telecom providers, such as AT&T, want this to happen, and will certainly push for that direction. After all, 3 ipad models have 3G data service that will make extra money for them. Of course, telecom companies have other means to empty their subscribers’ pockets, but one more is always welcome!

Apple pretends that the ipad stock always runs out and there’s a huge demand, which is not the case at all… Apple issued an aggressive guidance with high expectations on the ipad, that may or may not be met. And even if these expectations are met, it is nearly impossible to sustain them (and competition is coming to the ipad).

AAPL is now trading at $242.89. I think the stock is currently a good deal, but I just don’t believe that Apple will be able to sustain the growth, with these overpriced (and useless) ipads. The again, Apple has a lot of tricks under its sleeves, and the newest one is this (Hello, Netflix competitor).