When Did ‘Want’ Become ‘Need’?

Warning: this post may contain opinions and some rambling.

There’s been a few negative issues surround the iPad – ranging from rubbish WiFi to the inability to charge over USB, to devices over heating in sunlight. Well, such is my journalistic awesonness, I’m not going to cover any these; instead I’m going to jump right to the big one.

Some people think other people don’t need an iPad.

The line between ‘need’ and ‘want’ seems to have been blurred and there’s a lot of hate on the tech forums surrounding this. If someone wants and can afford something, then surely they should be entitled to it? If I have a computer and an iPhone and a Kindle then no, I don’t need an iPad. But the truth is, I want one.

In the same way we buy cars that we want rather than need – otherwise we’d all have Vauxhall Corsas and the roads would be a very boring place. No one ‘needs’ a Ferrari, but if you can afford one and will enjoy owning it then why the hell not?

The same applies to clothes and shoes – try telling any woman otherwise – and I don’t see why it shouldn’t also apply to technology. I see a lot of Macs around university and I would bet that 75% have been bought because the student wants one instead of a cheaper alternative. They might not need the Mac and a cheap Dell would do Facebook just as well, but they wanted one.

So why is the iPad getting so much hate? No one needs an iPad at all. Nobody has a valid reason for buying one as it doesn’t replace their phone or their laptop entirely. But 300,000 were sold in its opening weekend.

300,000 people who decided they wanted one. They all have their own reasons and, unless there was a huge robbery that I wasn’t aware of, they could all afford one.

So why shouldn’t we be able to treat ourselves once in a while? It’s not the cheapest treat I’ve ever seen but so what, if you can afford it then go buy one.

I should explain; this isn’t a dig at anyone, just my thoughts on some responses to the iPad. I’d love to hear your views in the comments below.

Alistair

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