I'd like to think I'm somewhat resistant to the fallout of today's nuclear powered marketing effort almost every company subjects me to on a daily basis. I'd love to think that I am not the things I own. Even that however, sounds like a catchy tag line. Screen fades to black, logo fades in...announcer, "Because you're not the things you own, or the car you drive...Douche Bag Insurance".

The truth is, like a lot of people I am still very manipulated by marketing. I'm considering the purchase of an iPad. I've not owned many Apple products before (I have an iPod Nano) even though almost everyone else in my professional field (graphic design) is a Mac fan boy by default. I've never seen the need or appeal. Until now.

I'm not sure why exactly. When I look at the iPad and compare it to other similar devices it's not always the greatest choice. The biggest downfall I can't get over is the complete lack of support for Adobe Flash. As a former website designer I embraced flash as a powerful tool for everything from delivering rich multimedia to my users or building free-flowing graphical user interfaces. So I realize the importance of Flash. It's everywhere you look on the web. And as of the time of writing this, Apple has no plans of making Flash part of the web surfing experience on the iPad. This will mean many, many websites will not work with the iPad. And yet I still want one.

Maybe it's the way it looks. With it's sleek, thin exterior. Remember the Star Trek computer tablet? Or maybe it's the clique-ness. There's always been a certain "exclusive" attitude with Apple owners. But not elitist type exclusive like at some fancy golf club that they won't let you come back to because you showed up for your tee time in a t-shirt and camo-shorts, parked the golf cart on the green and couldn't get past the first hole in less than 53 strokes. At least its not on the surface. There's an argument to be made for just that type of elitism with Apple but that's another story.

Whatever the reason, I'm probably going to buy one. I'll use it for a while and feel like the next John Lennon, saving the earth and fuzzy animals, contributing to peace on earth. Then I'll realize like all other things I own, it hasn't really made mine or anyone else's life better. And in the closet with my old cell phones, laptops and PDAs it will go.