The Purple Lounge
home of the purple couch

Dr. Lalia Rach, divisional dean and HVS International chair of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management at New York University (whew), said at an HSMAI luncheon in NYC earlier this month that tablets will replace smart phones.  I believed her. 

The dawning of that day arrived yesterday when Steve Jobs, co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc., introduced the iPad in San Francisco.  Yesterday afternoon several people in my office were buzzing about it.  Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, placed the iPad story at the top of the cover page next to coverage of President Obama’s State of the Union Address with another full-page of coverage in the paper’s technology section.  (Got to love the mega free PR.)

While the iPad lacks some features (it has no camera and Flash does not work on it), I appreciate the benefits of its reader features for books, newspapers and magazines.  It is useful to someone like me, a PR person and someone who works on the train, at home, in hotels room, and sitting in the car outside my son’s school.  It is lighter than a laptop and bigger than my Blackberry.  Woo-hoo.

The only bummer is: What will become of the bookshelf?  My husband and I are house-hunting and I find myself drawn to the homes with rooms that are made warm and intimate by handsome bookcases. 

In our office we have a wall of maple bookshelves which house our library of newspapers and magazines.  What will we put on its glossy, smooth shelves when all the print publications are gone? 

All ideas are welcome.

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