If you don’t have one you are getting left behind.

Just over 6 months ago I was amongst the first in line with our son to buy an iPad, a fairly unusual ‘early adopter’ stance for one who prefers to let others do the testing for him and then buys Mark II of a gadget. You know, the one that works properly.

Well, since that great day three things have happened. Our son is one inch taller, I have bought five more iPads as gifts for friends and a piece of junk named ‘Kindle’ has come and gone. No, none of the gift recipients have returned their iPads.

And, not coincidentally, AAPL stock has risen over 20%.

Mobile devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod) now account for nearly 60% of Apple’s revenues and, depending whom you believe, somewhere between 8 and 14 million iPads will be sold in the last nine months of 2010.

But the grumblers continue to wait for something better, denying the time value of information. It doesn’t run Flash, it doesn’t have an SDHC card slot, it’s clunky for file sharing with your desktop, it doesn’t multitask, it doesn’t print, there’s no matte screen version and on and on. Meanwhile I have found the iPad has become my dominant reading tool, be it blogs, news, books, art, photography, PDF files or music. And our son loves it for gaming!

While what I really want is a 21″ iPad for art and picture books, it seems that the next variation will be a 7″ model with greater portability which I expect to start at $299 compared to $499 for the original.

The next iPad.

That one will be fine for books and snaps but of less interest to photographers who generally prefer a larger screen.

The early adoption decision was easy. After three years with the iPhone there was no learning curve, and the touch screen technology is identical. The same features that make the iPhone so successful – instant on, bog reliable OS, high manufacturing quality, reasonable price – were all expected in the iPad and I was not disappointed. Plus, unlike a MacBook or any other laptop or netbook, it runs very cool, a pleasant and unexpected bonus. Finally, the eleven hour battery life is a game changer.

I have placed more stock trades and read more research reports using the iPad than I can recall. Now instead of catching the market open bleary eyed in the office, I simply prop a pillow under my head and have at it in bed, if you get my drift. Waking at 3 am to check the far east markets is now a process with a very low resistance factor, as I do not have to go anywhere to do it.

So, time is money and information is power. If you are still waiting for something better, you have just lost 6 months – of time, money and power – for what is a trivial outlay. What’s your problem? Heck, your local Target now has them and even the maker of that execrable piece of junk, the Kindle, will sell you one sales tax free.

And next year when I get the second version I’ll hack the original to run Flash and spray the screen with matte enamel, making for a complete experience.

Disclosure: I own more AAPL stock than you do.