Okay, we get it. It’s not an entire Macbook crammed into a single slate. It doesn’t have a 1080p color e-ink touch screen with backlighting, portal technology, and holographic projection. You hate it, fine. It’s not like I’m camping out to buy it once it finally ships. But before you divert your bored hours at work from Farmville to flaming the fanboys on every Apple message board you can find, read this and try to think about long-term strategy.

I’m a musician, so I have to think long-term. The entry-level position for most business is either mail room, receptionist, or dishwasher. For musicians it’s playing hours of classic rock tunes in bars where people are annoyed that you’re interrupting the football game. It’s spending thousands on an album that might just sell 50 copies, if you’re lucky. It’s setting up message boards on your website and talking to the same 3 friends who are bored at their day jobs playing Farmville.

If musicians only thought short-term, nobody would go into this business.

Apple’s new iPad is a lot like a new indie band. (more…)