As Stephen Colbert prepared to announce the nominees for Song of the Year at the Grammys on Sunday night, he reached into his pocket for the list.
“And the nominees are . . . I’m sorry where’s the list?” he said, looking offstage.
Then he turned to face the audience. “Oh I know,” he said. “It’s on my iPad.”
Colbert then unbuttoned his jacket and pulled out an Apple iPad. (Video after the jump.)
Apple’s iPad was unveiled last Wednesday at an elaborately staged event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. During a long presentation, chief executive Steve Jobs demonstrated the many capabilities of the wonderfully sleek tablet computer.
Yet despite the iPad’s obvious virtues, it has been met with a lukewarm reception. Consumers are unsure there is room for a third device between a smartphone and a computer. Critics complain that it is missing key features such as multitasking and a camera.
The first iPads will not be available for another 60 days, but Apple already seems keen to stoke the general public’s interest. Even before Mr Colbert showed it off at the Grammys, it was reported that Jack Bauer, the terrorist-fighting hero of Fox’s ’24′, would use an iPad during an upcoming episode.
An appearance at the Grammys will surely help lodge the iPad a bit deeper in the collective consciousness, and up its cool factor. Before he announced the nominees, Mr Colbert said: “Jay-Z, did you not get one of these in your gift bag? Am I cooler than you?”
But even Mr Colbert probably is not so cool that he got to keep that iPad. Instead, he will likely have to wait until late March to get his. And at that point, Apple will be hoping that everyone who was watching the Grammys, and then some, will be wanting one too.
