I, like many others, don't give a sh*t how many apple sells. I'm disappointed because the device is a let down. I was going to buy one. I had a $500 gift card for the mall around the corner (that has an apple store) and I was going to pay the difference. But to be frank, the device isn't revolutionary at all. It's a disappointment.

Ya, maybe Apple well sell a million. That certainly doesn't change my life at all. (And to be honest, selling a million devices isn't such a triumph anymore... especially when you are "creating" a new genre")

Also, don't forget the price difference between the kindle and the ipad... and the fact that you can read in bed every night without going blind.

Nothing innovative at all, and even lacking features you get on an iPhone, like a camera and a phone! Will video iChat ever be realized? WHY won't they still let you pair their own wireless keyboard rather than having to buy that keyboard dock thing?!? Why no multi touch back or camera enabled gesture features? They should have waited till they could include more features.

When are you gonna give us iphone users tethering at the same price point.

I think a laptop is too cumbersome to carry around - you can't carry it in your purse, you can carry a briefcase around, but who does that.

A phone is easily carried, but the screen is cramped, it's not a great experience to surf most websites on a 3" screen.

As an e-reader, as a mobile web device, as a map, as a restaurant guide, etc - this is a better experience than a cell phone.

I can see Apple easily selling a few million of these, whether thats the numbers they are hoping for - probably not. to get to the "save the free press for democracy" level that Steve Jobs is hoping for, clearly he wants it to be more mainstream.

Either way, Apple will sell plenty enough to make a swift profit.

As a guy - i.e. purseless, I'm pondering how to carry the device around. If I make the effort to carry a briefcase - by gosh, I wish this had regular cell service - and a built in camera for video conferencing.
I am not proposing to place a 10" screen up to my face, like some kind of honey-I-supersized-my-phone device - I just mean, why not google voice a call over to the device, and answer calls on a blue tooth headset. That way I don't care an extra device.

It seems that the iPad, at this point, is more about software than hardware. iWork is an excellent addition. I want Vectorworks for iPad!

I was stunned at the entry price! It certainly helps that Apple has cornered the market on memory and displays.

It's surprising and disappointing that there's no camera or mobile iChat, we've got Skype and fring for that, but otherwise it's an extremely compelling device.

It's a Rev.A and Apple does take the building block approach: rather than toss in half-baked, sorta functional features, they wait add features only when they're ready for everyday use.

The iPhone, the iPod touch and OS X (or is it iOS?) make a pretty solid foundation. It can only get better from here.

Wow, I am a pretty die hard Apple fan, but this thing looks useless. Like others, I planned on buying one based on the hype etc; but honestly, its a serious let down. Just another tool to sell overpriced data cellular plans and iTunes apps.

I hope the iPad supports 5gHz Wifi-n because that is the band that my Airport runs at home. My iPhone 3GS doesn't can't connect to it. I like to wake up to news podcasts from NPR and the Wall Street Journal while I take a look at my e-mail and calendar.

For those who think that the iPad is nothing special, I have the following to say:

Prior to the announcement, I was of the opinion that a tablet was something that was unnecessary, but while watching the announcement (and maybe I got caught up in the RDF) it occurred to me that this has a few key advantages over everything that has gone before. First, all of the other tablets have failed because they are basically just poor adaptations of a desktop OS to a tablet type device. The paradigm doesn't transfer well and that's why this device doesn't run a desktop version of OS X. On the other hand, the iPhone is great for mobile use (far and away the best), but if I'm at home on my couch, I would rather pickup my laptop any day of the week. BUT, and here's the kicker, for the huge majority of the population that uses their computer to browse the web, listen to music, look at photos and not a whole lot more, THIS IS GENIUS. It's as easy to use as the iPhone (which is MUCH simpler than OSX or Windows) but without the size restrictions. I speculate that for MANY, MANY people, this device will completely eliminate the need for another computer--and that's not something that the iPhone can do, no matter how capable.

I could go on. There are many uses for this device and many reasons why this is far superior to some generic tablet running windows (or OS X for that matter) but I think plenty of people will chime on those facets.

So how is this thing going to be better than a netbook for web browsing when it still doesn't support Flash?

That's just dumb.

As an owner of a MacBook Pro 2009 and an iPhone 3GS, I'd have to say I'm not in the market for the iPad. It just appears to be overkill for my needs, where those other 2 items cover. I'm also a bit disappointed to in the lack of iSight as well as audio/mic features. The poor state of AT&T 3G coverage also inhibits this option in my opinion; perhaps Verizon remains a stubborn negotiator w/ Apple, but once again seems too short-sighted.

That's not to say the iPad won't be successful, but I'd imagine there are going to be others like me who will wait on iPad's "killer app" feature, whatever it may be, before buying one.

/

When Apple launched iPod, many people were disappointed, and I am not surprised that even many more are disappointed on iPad launched. Expectation continuously increasing based on technology expectation. But look at iPod evolution now. many good things start simple and grows. Those who prefer technology features rather than usability at first launched may do better to go with Motorola or HTC/Google invention.

iPad is what I am looking for. I need a device that just works from the beginning. many features and technology of iPad already well proven from iPod Touch and Macs. And I am sure, Apple will improve it aggresively to compete on the market

I still will need a netbook to chat with my family when travelling for business. I'm holding out for two things.

iPad 2

or

An aftermarket camera and confirmation that Flash websites will run.

Is anyone surprised that there are already complaints?

I think the biggest surprise with this device is the price and that it is running on a processor built my Apple.

My biggest disappointment regarding this device is lack of multitasking. But, it's possible that by the time it's actually released Apple will have outed iPhone OS 4.0 (which I'm hoping will allow some level of multitasking for third-party apps).

I don't get the griping about not being able to make phone calls - you can't do it on a kindle or a laptop with a data plan - just seems like something to complain about. I mean making phone calls on a tablet is not something a tablet would be good at.

With all the rumors about eBooks I was curious what Apple was going to do about the problem of reading a backlit display for long periods of time - apparently nothing - I'll be curious to read user feedback when it's been out for awhile. I had been holding off on purchasing a Kindle until Apple released their iPad, but it looks like it's back on the buy list. I wonder if Apple is going to block Amazon's Kindle app - I'm more curious b/c of pricing differences.

I don't really see the point of a front facing camera for a device like this - again, this is not something a tablet would excel at. However, I do think this device would be ideal for video chat and I'm curious as to why it was left out, ie room, network issues (3G verse WiFi and possible confusion), availability of camera modules, etc.

So I'll what and see. I'll probably end up getting one of these for the light web stuff I do instead of a laptop, which is really over kill for my needs. Work provides a laptop and I have an iMac for the heavier stuff. I can even see myself getting the low-end model for $500 - I have an iMac and an iPhone, don't really need the 3G on this nor all my music since it's on the iPhone.

No mention of multitasking, no ability to distribute apps outside of the App Store (so no disruptive or revolutionary apps allowed), no making use of all that storage as removable storage for your computer (Disk mode), not even a front-facing camera for video chats... This thing is interesting, but certainly not useful to me, and not worth spending $500+ on when I already have an iPhone and a laptop. This device will find its niche in education and specialized markets like health care and certain industries, and I'm sure it'll do alright, but it's not even close to being attractive to me, and I strongly doubt this will be anywhere near the impact and success that the iPhone had on consumer electronics.

You know its a cold day in Apple h*** when my negative apple comments have a positive rank.

I'm buying one. I see a dedicated book reader, web browser and email that I can use all over without touting a big MacBook. People forget the #1 use of computer is to surf the web and #2 is checking email. Now if I can buy and download books and textbook for college courses on this without stepping foot in a crowded bookstore then I'm real good. I'm really shocked that people who spent close to this amount on a iPod Touch would actually be complaining. This obvious does more than a iPod Touch and you have a large LED IPS screen plus you have a buy option of integrated 3G that AT&T announced that they will have Unlimited Data Plan for $30 a month with no contract! This better than a NetBook and a lot cheaper than a MacBook. I got over 200 Apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch plus I can use it ALL with this? iPad. This can work for me. For those who argue please don't buy it if you not that creative or good at multitasking. I seen all Star Trek TV Series and I wished that we have the technology that they portrayed as the future like right and we do. Just a lot of people to dumb to realize it that Apple made it work for us and we are already there.

With that big black border, it looks best as an expensive digital photoframe...

Man, it looks neither magical nor revolutionary. If it were three years ago, and there had yet to be an iPhone/iPod touch, then you've got magical and revolutionary. Right now, though, it's just a large iPod touch.

And Apple wanting to keep it's control on every part of it. So, did they allow the 3G access just so they can say they need to approve all apps, otherwise networks could be taken down? Nah, they just like control and all the money that comes from that.

And nothing like forcing developers hands by lowballing the price of the iWork apps. "What, you want $20 for that program? That's insane. Pages only cost $10 and it does a lot more than that app!" is what we'll be hearing a lot of. Must be nice to be able to offset your development costs with hardware sales and all that cash on hand.

I love my iphone, macbook, imac, and powermac, but I also love my kindle, and for the life of me, I don't see how any backlit lcd could ever replace my kindle as far as reading books goes. Sure, reading magazines and multimedia content will be cool, but if you like to read books for hours at a time, like to read outdoors beyond the reach of an outlet, and hope to have a working pair of eyes when your old and wrinkly, it's hard to compete with e-ink. Maybe I'll buy one of these and add yet another damn device to my travel bag, but as much as I love apple stuff, I don't see every reading books on this thing unless they put an e-ink display on the back or something.

ScottG - it does actually have a Mic (and a speaker).

It would be nice if it had a front facing camera for iChat. I also would have liked a built-in SD reader instead of the optional Dock Digital Camera Kit.

However, the base price would be $700 instead of $500 if all of the missing features we're complaining about were added.

I was also hoping for iLife 10/2010/X and iPhone OS 4 with multitasking today. Maybe those will come at the developer conference.

and yet we still don't have flash support. most web pages seemed to use flash plugins...even on the keynote video, steve jobs went to some websites that required flash! Classic!

If this thing contained all the 'features' everyone keeps whining over, they'd be whining that the price was too high.

Personally, lack of camera - good thing (wish I could have saved money on my MBP and not gotten one, it goes completely unused, unlike the ExpressCard slot which Apple has now deemed useless). Keyboard/dock doohickey - good thing for those who whined that they wished the iPhone could have a keyboard so they could use it as a computer (which, BTW, these people really want is this). SD Card slot? Who'd expect that? Apple doesn't want people expanding memory, and exactly what would you do with it? Copy the 32GB card contents onto your 32GB internal drive?

Main downside on this is the damn limited OS/appstore requirement. A full blown OS X version would make it a much more useful device than what it is, which is a large iPod touch, nothing more.

I think I had a similar first reaction to the iPad that many had.

It's just a big iPod Touch.. sigh.. I doubt I'm the only one that really wanted this to be the Apple Knowledge Navigator re-imagined by Jobs and Ive.. The iPad is not the Knowledge Navigator.

But, after re-watching the stevenote and re-watching a few demos, I'm beginning to see the "appliance" device "for the rest of us" that Apple has always wanted to create.

The iPad is, in a very real way, a "media appliance". If you never wanted to attach it to a Mac or PC, you'd likely never know the difference.

It's an appliance that can wirelessly get almost all of its content from -

1. iTunes
2. The app store
3. the iBook store
4. the web
5. IMAP/POP3 email servers

If you're using this as an eReader and Web/email device, there's no reason you'll ever *need* to attach it to a Mac or PC.. Maybe HD content a good sync would be useful?

Even for light weight document creation you have iWork apps (from the app store) and the Keyboard Dock.

After watching the keynote the first time, I was sitting on my couch, using my iPhone exactly as Jobs says I'd use the iPad. And, he's right, for all my non-phone iPhone use, the iPad would be better. Maybe not right for me, but for my parents? Absolutely.

I think many who are disappointed in the iPad need to take a fresh look at what it is, and what it can be.. Not hold it against what they wanted.. Apple stopped making what we wanted almost a decade ago. Otherwise, we'd have a headless iMac w/ an i7, 4 RAM slots, 2 SATA drives, and 3 PCIe slots. I turned blue holding my breath for that years ago.

Is the iPad flawed in its v1.0? Definitely.

1. If this is the appliance for my parents, it needed the front facing camera.. My parents, like many relatives of Mac users, use iChat and Skype daily. To replace a laptop on the couch, it needed a web cam.

2. A new revolutionary device needed a revolutionary data connector. The iPad deserves better than USB2. If someone tries using the iPad as a media device and loads it up with HD movies, TV shows, HD Video Podcasts, and iPad-res games.. With USB2, it'll likely be something they need to start before they go to bed. The iPad is begging for LightPeak. A new high-speed connection would make this media device sync seamlessly, like an appliance. USB2 makes it a chore. And the iPad goes from microwave, to vacuum.

3. There's too many versions. For this to be the appliance my parents can walk into the store and get the "right one", Apple really should have only had the Wifi+3G. Not just because people may want the 3G in the future, but because they'll definitely want the GPS that's only included in the 3G version. 6 versions of the iPad is just obnoxious and is reminiscent of Apple pre-Jobs return. I hope v2.0 brings a more streamlined offering of iPads for a more appliance-like shopping experience.

Will I buy the v1.0 iPad? Probably not. Will I get v2.0 if the above issues are addressed, along with some surprise refinements? Yes.

The iPad is very close to being the type of "appliance computer" Apple has always seemed to want to sell. I think we'll see the product evolve and become a better "fit" for the rest of us in future revisions.

200linx.com The First Ultimate Homepage for Apple’s iPad!Share
Today at 2:23am
http://www.200linx.com/ The First Ultimate Homepage for Apple’s iPad
Apple’s new Multi-Touch device is designed to make navigating the web easier and intuitive, one page at a time.
200Linx was designed to be the ultimate, most convenient homepage for the iPad and other tablet PC.
200Linx is the homepage that brings you everything that's good on the Internet in one click, on one place.
They searched thousands of websites and surveyed hundreds of internet users to make the iPad user’s life easier.
They had one single question in mind: what are the most useful websites for most people? Or in other words: where do people spend their time online?
They gathered the findings in a single place, under one page, totally free: 200Linx.com.

Each page has 25 categories of websites: News, Sport, Weather, Health, E-mail services etc.
Each category consists of the 8 most useful websites. Total: 200 great links. As simple as that.

The best way to use 200Linx is to set it as your iPad’s Safari’s homepage.
This way, whenever you start your Safari web browser you'll see 200Linx logos and will be able to find your favorite website immediately and navigate easily to them.
The logos are large, neat and readable.

200Linx is also a great way to discover new useful websites.
All you need to do is press a logo - and you're there.
200Linx looks great on the iPad in portrait and landscape positions and was fitted perfectly to both positions.
It is offered now in 7 local versions: U.S, U.K, Canada, Spain, France, Mexico and Germany. More local versions to come soon.

iPad is the best way to experience the web.
200Linx is the best way to experience iPad.

I first started programming computers in 1978 at the age of 11, and in all my years writing software I never predicted that a device like the iPad would exist, let alone be in ordinary people's hands in my lifetime. The fact that people complain about the lack of features on this magical device shows just how much We Have Arrived. Apple has concealed the computer behind a veil of interaction involving our senses so much that we forget that we're interacting with a machine. We can interact with a game, a utility, or a person without thinking about it. Wow.