The launch of Apple Inc.’s iPad raises two questions for financial advisors: do you need a tablet computer; and, if so, is the iPad the only one worth considering?

Apple’s device has long been anticipated among Mac fans. Featuring a 9.7-inch display, the 1.5-pound, half-inch-thick slate doesn’t lack “chic” value. Unlike conventional laptop computers, which feature hardware keyboards and trackpads, the iPad is designed to be controlled by touching the screen with your fingers. Its multi-touch display allows you to drag, wipe and pinch your way around the interface.

The iPad’s attraction is that it bridges the gap between a smartphone and a conventional laptop. Cynics might argue that it incorporates the worst features of both. It doesn’t allow you to make phone calls (unless you download the Skype application), and the lack of a hardware keyboard makes it slightly more difficult to do long stints of word processing or email. If you don’t like using the built-in software keyboard, you can relent and buy a separate hardware keyboard that plugs into the device.

But the true function of the iPad is that it removes the psychological barrier between you and the content on your screen. It wants you to poke at it directly rather than peck away at a metal plank covered in Scrabble keys, which, frankly, in the world of tablet computing, seems so 1999. And when you look at the two most impressive functions of the iPad, this begins to make sense.

The device excels as an e-reader. It comes with Apple’s electronic book-reading application, which is integrated with the iTunes software, so you can buy electronic books online and download them directly onto your device.

Third-party publishers and content distributors are already on board with the iPad. Online bookstore Amazon.com Inc. has developed a version of its Kindle e-book reader software for the iPad, allowing you to buy a financial book online, then turn pages with a single swipe of your finger. Perhaps even more important for advisors, newspapers are also getting involved. The Wall Street Journal has published its own iPad application, allowing you to scroll and pinch your way around the newspaper. Many stories feature embedded video links. Other newspapers, including the New York Times, also support the iPad.

The device is particularly good at web browsing. Because the iPad removes the barrier of a mouse and keyboard, it places the Internet literally at your fingertips, enabling you to navigate your way around various websites intuitively.

If you do a lot of local and long-distance travel to visit clients, you might appreciate the iPad’s ability to handle light office work while also acting as a tool with which to present to clients. Apple ships a version of its iWork productivity software designed for use on the iPad. This gives you access to Keynote, the presentation software; Numbers, the spreadsheet; and Pages, the word processing application. This system can import Microsoft Office documents and other documents created in Apple’s desktop-based iWork package, so you can use your iPad in many of the ways you would use a laptop.

This all sounds rather like a sales pitch for the iPad, but the device has some significant problems, too. First, the 3G version, which will connect to cellular networks, isn’t shipping yet, so if you want to use an iPad on the road, you will have to find a Wi-Fi network to get any connectivity. This might not be a deal-breaker, given that so much functionality is available offline, but the Wi-Fi version also lacks GPS support, which is important for the increasing number of applications that offer data based on your location. Neither does the device support Flash, Adobe Systems Inc.’s multimedia plug-in system.

It is also important to remember that Apple’s iPad is far from being the only tablet device on offer. For example, Hewlett-Packard Development Co. LP will be launching a tablet based on the Windows 7 operating system. Leaked details suggest that it will have a nine-inch screen, five hours of battery life (roughly half that of the iPad), a camera (which the iPad does not have), USB connectivity and sockets for a SIM card, which would enable users to plug in a wireless modem and get connected anywhere. Dell Inc. is also rumoured to be coming out with a similar device, and the use of Windows 7 will please users of Microsoft Corp.’s operating system.

@page_break@Neither should we rule out Google Inc. in this race. The company is said to be preparing its own tablet device, which will be based on its Android mobile-phone operating system. Few details are available on this unit, but it is likely to include Flash support and will doubtless feature a multi-touch display and seamless connectivity to Google’s cloud-based services, such as Docs and Spreadsheets, and Gmail.

So, should you invest in an iPad? The Wi-Fi-only version goes on sale at the end of this month. But I would recommend waiting until the 3G version, complete with built-in GPS functionality, is available in Canada. By that stage, Apple will probably have shipped version 4.0 of its iPhone operating system, which will include some significant upgrades that will also be available for the iPad. These include multitasking, which will enable more than one application to run at once.

The one thing worrying about the iPad, beautiful though it is in its design, is the locked-down nature of the system. Apple is notorious for imposing heavy restrictions on the use of its software and hardware. One good example with the iPad is the lack of a USB or FireWire port, making it practically impossible to connect any standard device, such as a hard drive. Users of this hardware will definitely be sacrificing function for form in many ways. But then, Apple is doubtless relying on one thing: wouldn’t it look nice if you pulled an iPad out of your bag during a client meeting? IE