The first accessory that gets my vote is the “Cradle” from Quirky. It’s a super cool iPad lap desk that is not actually in production yet – the way things work at Quirky is the community designs and influences products, and when a product has had all it’s boxes ticked it goes up for pre-sale. Then, when enough punters have bought it, Quirky goes into production. It’s a neat system and these funky design items sell like hot cakes, this one will be sold out in a matter of weeks by the looks of things.

Number two would be the Incipio Destroyer Overkill iPad Case – it’s the most indestructible case I have seen on the market, and something I would consider to be essential. I can be a bit rough with my gadgets, I’m an outdoorsy type of person and when I decide to chuck everything in the car and get out of town for a day or two, well… I tend to literally chuck everything in… This case is so tough I think it would handle almost anything I would want to do with my iPad.

Number three would be the Skooba Design Messenger Bag, It’s a super light-weight bag with lots of great features, probably more than I can remember right now! Lets see… It has a zipper on the top so you can get your iPad out really easily and quickly without opening up the entire bag, big tick for that one – I imagine it would be incredibly useful when, for example, standing on the subway or a cramped economy class flight – you don’t want to rummage through the whole bag. It also has neat compartments for all those other essential accessories such as chargers and USB cables – and a well thought out compartment layout that means you will always be organized.

The fourth choice is something I consider to be an absolute necessity, and perhaps should be at the top of the list, an iPad screen protector. I’ve seen heaps of makes and models, but the one that I always choose is the military-grade invisible shield from Zagg. They are the most well known name in the industry, and they stand by their products with a lifetime guarantee. It’s maybe not the most exciting accessory, but it certainly is an essential, and will have your iPad protected and looking like new for a very long time! I will be getting full body protection when my iPad arrives.

My last choice is an arty alternative to the Zagg – also a screen protector of sorts, this one would probably be referred to as an iPad skin. They’re called Gelaskins, and like the competition they cover your whole device with a scratch proof surface however these ones have funky designs printed on them. There is a whole range of prints, from fine art to modern art and graffiti style prints. Many of them are just beautiful! Another neat thing about Gelaskins is they all come with a matching iPad desktop wallpaper image – so that the stick on scratch-proof surface matches up with your screen. Ingenious. I suspect a few people maybe a bit precious with their iPad to make it Gelskin funky in the first month of owning it. However, long term, and as the iPad becomes more prolific, I think iPad skins will become more and more popular, they are a neat way of making your iPad unique and you will certainly stand out from the crowd.

I hope some find this is a useful list – I’ve noticed the big gadget blogs all featuring the same iPad keyboards… iPad docks… etc. I think everyone has seen these on Apple dot com so I thought it might be nice to show a bit more variety. If you want more information on any of these great iPad accessories then check out the link. I said I’d give you one

And if you missed it and were wondering, especially those who know me, the answer is yes, I had a hand in the development and design of the site. Hope you like it, let me know what you think in the comments.

Well now I’m not so sure – checking out some of these iPad demo videos is making my fingertips tingle with anticipation… I want one!