I’ve been going back and forth over whether buying an iPad is worth it or not – eventually my gadget-fiend portion of my brain took over an I just whipped out my credit card and bought one (due to ship on April 12, which is also Mariner’s opening day).

When I thought about it, I realized that the iPad could cut down on a lot of things I’ve been accumulating over the past couple years: remotes, media players, crappy netbooks from Dell, etc. I look at the iPad not as the world’s shiniest eReader, but as a device (no, Jony, not a magical one) that will allow for consolidation in the average household.

Now, granted the iPad doesn’t have a ton of out-of-the-box capabilities, but the app world is wide open for development of time/space/effort saving applications ranging from home security management to apps as simple as a remote control for your home theater PC.

I don’t see myself whipping out a PPT using Keynote on a flight from Seattle to SFO, but I do like the idea of watching a movie on that flight and having the ability to see the screen at a good angle because I’m not worried about the weirdness of a keyboard + screen on my tray table.

I think you’ll see the success or failure of the iPad in the next 5-8 months as devs scramble to get their apps on the iPad’s larger, and more easily manipulated screen. The only question is: if a developer builds a great app and no one hears about it, does it exist?