As I write this article, sales of Apple's iPad have already surpassed three million units. Not bad for a product that, prior to its launch, had many analysts wondering whether it would be a dud.

Now that the iPad is a certified hit, the natural question on a lot of minds is ‘iPad or netbook’?

I've asked myself that question and my answer depends on what I want to do with the device: Consume content or create content.

NONEIf it's the former, the iPad (left) wins hands down. The iPad it not yet available in Malaysia but I've played with one belonging to a friend who had it sent from the US. It's a very cool device and for reading e-books and watching videos, it's superb.

However, if my purpose is the latter, the netbook has one key advantage over the iPad (or any tablet for that matter). It has a keyboard. For content creation, this is crucial, whether you're typing an article or editing images, audio or video.

So, will it be a draw, with 50 percent of the people buying tablets and 50 percent buying netbooks? Of course not, because an overwhelmingly majority of people are consumers of content not creators of it. Plus, the iPad has the coolness factor going for it.

But what do the consumers say? So far, all the surveys I've seen indicate that tablets will trump netbooks.

In a poll of 1,000 individuals conducted by consumer electronics site, Retrevo, 78 percent of the respondents said they were inclined to buy an iPad instead of a netbook.

Gartner recently said that, buoyed by the iPad, tablet sales will surge to 10.5 million units this year alone, while Forrester Research this month issued a report claiming that tablets will surpass netbook sales by 2012.

“Tablet growth will come at the expense of netbooks, which have a similar grab-and-go media consumption and Web browsing use case as tablets but don’t synchronise data across services like the iPad does,” said Rotman Epps, the principle author of the report.

“Consumers didn’t ask for tablets. In fact, Forrester’s data shows that the top features consumers say they want in a PC are a complete mismatch with the features of the iPad. But Apple is successfully teaching consumers to want this new device.”

Such is the power of Steve Job's famous reality distortion field that he can get consumers to buy what they didn't originally envision wanting.

Just as the iPod got rivals falling over themselves to come up with their own MP3 players and just as the iPhone got phone makers to pay attention to the touchscreen form factor, the iPad has got every major computer maker looking seriously at tablets.

But going head to head against Apple, whenever it's got a red-hot product, is suicide. Do you know anyone who owns a Zune?

So, if any of Apple's competitors want to make a dent in the tablet market, they have to come up with very different form factors so that they are, in fact, not directly competing with the iPad.

Best of both worlds

Two devices are coming out in the near future which might have a fighting chance. One of them is the Lenovo U1 which, on the surface, looks like a typical netbook but is actually a clever hybrid device.

The monitor section of the device is detachable and can function like a tablet. So, when you need to do some serious work, you use it like you would a netbook. But when you want to just enjoy some content, you can use it like a tablet. The best of both worlds, in a sense.

NONEThe other interesting one - which has a certain ‘wow’ factor to it - is the Toshiba Libretto W100 (just look at the photo and you'll see what I mean), which can best be described as a netbook consisting of two tablets.

It basically features dual touchscreen monitors. Think of it as a netbook that has another monitor located where the keyboard is supposed to be. The two screens can be used together (as in a netbook, with one of the monitors acting as a virtual keyboard) or separately (as in a tablet).

NONEIf you have a tough time deciding between a tablet or a netbook, you can go for a Lenovo (left) or Toshiba hybrid device.

But if you are not into hybrid devices - some people consider them neither here nor there - then your decision really should be based on what you plan to use the device for. As mentioned earlier, a tablet is best use for content consumption while a netbook is better for content creation.

That said, I should emphasise for those who have not tried a netbook before that, although it is better for doing work than a tablet is, it's still no replacement for a proper laptop, especially when it comes to heavy-duty work. Both its monitor and keyboard are way too small for any serious work to be done. Which is why in the long run, netbooks will suffer.

Those who want a device just for surfing the Net, reading e-books, watching movies and so on will opt for the handy and elegant tablet, which is ideal for such activities. And those who want to do serious work will stick to the laptop.

So, for me, if I were to buy another computing device to complement my laptop, it would most certainly be a tablet (though not necessarily an iPad) and not a netbook. What about you?


OON YEOH is a new media consultant. His upcoming book on social media will be published by MPH in July. He invites you to connect with him via Twitter and Facebook.