Turns out that Japan already has an iPad (あいパッド) and you'll never guess what it does! (It's absorbent AND electronic!)

via asiajin.com

Yep! The above pic depicts your happy Japanese "あいパッド" (aipaddo, the closest Japanese gets to pronouncing "iPad"), happy and ready for duty as an absorbent pad for seniors (it's an adult diaper). But the "i" in the name isn't there just for show. I'll let the Asiajin.com post explain how it is:

...a sensor-ready adult absorbent brief product by a company called Awajitec, named “あいパッド,”

...

The diaper, which has 2 lines of aluminium, can be connected by clip with a small sensor unit. When the diaper soaked, the sensor notifies it via radio waves. It eases some burden of family and caretakers who support elderly.

So, they are using the "i" in iPad to mean pretty much the same thing as the "i" in Apple's iPad, in that it's a "pad" that is used for communicating. I bet it could even be rigged to send your caregiver an email when your iPad has been, uh, accessed.

Regardless, Apple really should have given a *touch* (HA!) more thought to what they were going to call their new device. Calling it the "iXoon" would have led to fewer distractions... ;)

I just love how happy that old man is having just peed on on an iPad! ;)

Posted via web from thepete's posterous