Men have an iPad problem

Call it the male iPad dilemma: too large to slip into a pants pocket, too stiff to be curled up like a magazine and too precious to leave unprotected. With its rigid tablet shape, Apple's iPad has raised an awkward consideration for many men: how to carry it in a manner that is practical and yet, well, masculine.

"Women, they have purses to put this kind of stuff in; men don't," said André von Houck, a 22-year-old programmer from San Francisco. "I don't want to carry any bags." His solution: he simply leaves his iPad at home. "I don't carry it anywhere."

But guys who want to lug around their iPads are finding themselves quietly reaching for a so-called man purse, or murse. The iPad-shaped bags seem to be the gadgetphile's equivalent of a woman's clutch.

Scott Stein, a senior associate editor at CNET who lives in New York City, has reviewed iPad bags and ranked each with a "humiliation index." Scoring poorly was the Cocoon Harlem Netbook/iPad Sling, which he said looked like "a giant iPad fanny pack," while a "hipster-perfect olive-drab messenger bag" from STM bags received high marks for style.

"One might have a clutch that doesn't hold anything, but it's stylish," he said. "An iPad bag can be similarly stylish and absurd."

But even the most fashionable iPad bag can be mistaken for a murse. Some men are so stymied by the iPad's shape that they have avoided buying one. "How do you carry it?" asked Keith Nowak, a 27-year-old entrepreneur in New York City. "It's this weird in-limbo device. It's why I haven't gotten one: I don't know what I would do with it." But he still wrestles with iPad envy. "It's supercool, and I want one," he said.

Apple's advertisements, which show the iPad comfortably ensconced in laps in living-room settings, gently skirt the transport issue. And most iPad cases, including one offered by Apple, protect the glassy device only from bumps and scratches. They don't offer handles or straps for easy carrying. "You can't throw it over your shoulder," said David Epstein, 49, of Ossining, N.Y. "You have to keep it in your hand. And it's easy to lose."

One strategy, touted on online forums, is to turn to macho surplus military gear. That advice led Foo Conner, a 25-year-old consultant from Pittsburgh, to buy a World War II-era Swiss ammunition case to carry around his iPad. "It had to be more masculine," said Mr. Conner, who added that the bag is now nearly sold out online. Another popular choice: military map pouches. The pre-GPS-era bags are perfectly sized for a tablet device.

For the fashion forward, the solution can lie in clothing. Jeffrey Jacques, a 40-year-old physician in New York City, owns two zip-up fleeces with iPad-size pockets from Scottevest, a company in Sun Valley, Idaho, that started promoting "iPad-compatible" clothing a few hours after the iPad was unveiled by Steve Jobs in January.

But Mr. Jacques also wants something more formal that could be used for business meetings. In particular, he likes the idea of being able to take a quick business trip and take an iPad instead of a bulkier briefcase for a laptop. In response to demand, Scottevest plans to introduce an iPad-compatible blazer in time for Christmas.

The company may want to contact David Hockney, the famed British artist, who carries his iPad in a custom pocket sewn into his jackets. "The pocket was put there for a sketchbook that size by my tailor," he wrote in an e-mail. Instead of an old-fashioned sketchbook, he now carries the iPad, using an app for sketching whenever inspiration strikes, which is often.
A selection of Mr. Hockney's impromptu iPad drawings are on display in Paris at the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation through January.