Wait until the second generation of them are available. The fact it can't take notes or run two applications at once is kinda a deal breaker for me. At least for now.

Dang. I was really hoping to see pedestrians at stop lights and crosswalks staring down at iPads. And obviously drivers iPadding behind the wheel, and bicycling iPadders too. What the hell is Apple thinking?

I think I just realized why touchpads are so unappealing to me. No scroll wheel.

It's clearly not going to be a hold in your hand as you walk around kind of device, so I think it makes sense to show it this way. You use a phone to do things quickly on the go, I don't think Apple wants to position this to replace that. This is for when you're sitting down.

It's pretty funny how they gloss over all the keyboard actions, though. It does look awkward.

@1 - Notes, multitasking, etc., can (and almost surely will) all be solved with software updates. The second generation of the hardware may add some stuff (camera), but all the software features will be available to people who buy v1 too.

It is the apps. Apps like this:

http://images.macrumors.com/article/2010…

In the same way that you can run a lightbulb on a potato, you can type on the iPad: inefficiently/in the face of knowing there are better ways.

Touchscreen keyboards exist because thought-based typing doesn't exist yet while the inefficiencies of middle-man keyboard input are more than obvious. The result? A bridge to the past that hasn't quite yet been built completely on the future side: a touch-screen keyboard.

@3

Instapaper for iPhone has a neat little trick for this: tilt-to-scroll. You click a button and it remembers what slope the phone was at. Tilting away from you scrolls up progressively faster, towards scrolls down. The dead zone is large enough to keep it from drifting while you read. It's a nice way to read which requires no manual (in the hands sense) input whatsoever.

Keyboards are not inefficient if you're a fast typist. No such thing as a fast typist on a touch-screen, though.

I have this mental image of iPad-as-walking-around-device being an unbelievably easy target of theft. Much easier to snatch than a phone (which is pretty easy). I'm still waiting for someone to develop the perfect case for this; it's got to be something you can slip it in and out of with one hand, probably with a hard shell. I made a pretty decent Kindle case out of an 8x5 Moleskin notebook with all the pages ripped out, which kicks the ass of every Kindle-specific cover being sold; I imagine someone will come up with something similar for this. It doesn't need to be walk-around; it just needs to be ALMOST walk-around.

I still can't believe they're requiring users to buy a $29 dongle for usb connectivity.

The form factor seems horrible for text input. This doesn't even look appealing to use on an airplane. The only use case I can think of this for myself is as a coffee table web browser. I don't need to spend $500 for that when I already have an Apple laptop that does a decent job of that.

Anyone: will you need to purchase a subscription for this (like the iPhone) or will it just work with an existing wireless network?

@10: Yes and no. But mostly yes.

WiFi comes built-in. Some models have 3g for $129 extra, plus a $15/month (250MB) or $30/month (unlimited) AT&T subscription on top of that.

Want note taking?

Write an app.

It's not THAT hard.

@10 is correct, the answer is Yes. Mostly.

oh, to solve all your problems:

1. I want an iPad so I can create content. A: see 4.
2. I want an iPad so I can text constantly A: see 4.
3. I want an iPad so I can create videos with amazing stuff like a professional studio. A: see 4.

4. You don't need an iPad if you are someone who wants to develop content, write the next graphic novel, or make amazingly professional videos. Go get a desktop like everyone else and stop whining. The iPad isn't for you, or tech geeks, or anyone who rolls their own, it's for the consumers who just want something that WORKS.

@14: There's degrees of "creating content". I certainly wouldn't expect to write a novel, edit videos, or develop graphics on a device like an iPad. That said, I would expect any device that primarily acts as a portal to Internet content to be non-annoying to use the Internet with. That means that emailing, IMing, and posting to Slog should all be fun and easy.

The form factor (hard to type on) and lack of multi-tasking (time consuming to switch between IM/email/web) causes me to suspect that using an iPad will make for an annoying Internet experience. I already find the lack of multi-tasking annoying on my iPhone, and this looks like an iPhone that will also be hard to type on. It seems like a PC netbook is a much more sane choice for the same capability in this price range which also "just works".

I would love to be proven wrong once these things are in the Apple Store and I get to try one out. I have a lot of Apple hardware, and generally think it's great. I just think some of their products end up being duds (Apple TV, anyone?).

@15 - then buy the keyboard attachment that comes out in June.

Look, the iPad is going to blow the doors off the tablet market, and everyone knows it. The geeks are just jealous cause it ain't their vision of how to do it, but the people who buy them will be pretty darned happy.

@12

Thanks. Well I guess I'm not getting one. What a rip-off.

MASH was set at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, but they didn't do surgery walking down the street.

Paul…the iBook demo clearly shows the ability to "bookmark" a passage in a book. I'm still holding out hope that I'll be able to add a note to that bookmark.

But, it also let's me copy and paste from book passages, and I can copy content into a note-taking app and add additional note there; for example, I can copy passages into the Bento database app and keep copious notes and passages from books.

So, I'm not sure your statement is factually correct.

So, basically this brand-spankin' new tablet can't do a whole bunch of stuff my going on two year-old tablet has been able to do from day one?

Okay. Now, tell me again why Apple is so superior?

The problem with this commercial is that it's not showing the iPad doing anything new. OK, there are some improvements over the iphone, like the video in browser thing..

And multitasking matters. Maybe not for travel, when basic internet/entertainment functionality is most important (and that's why I still see this as a travel device - when you're at the airport for hours, on planes (not that the battery is going to last long enough for any of the trips I take), in hotel rooms in foreign countries where they're trying to charge you thirty bucks a day for internet access and instead you have the option of paying $30 for a month). But multitasking definitely matters for the couch browsing scenario - you want to see IM and email and maybe rss right away, while you're watching TV and absentmindedly playing Tetris. And you want to be able to pause all that and quickly look something up on IMDB or wikipedia. My MBPro does a fine job of this, and for anyone concerned about burnt laps and keyboard ergonomics I highly recommend getting a little table that's about chair-arm height for it.

I want to like the iPad, I do. I was hoping it would be something revolutionary that could allow me to travel with one electronic thing instead of 5. But since it does such a mediocre job of replacing just about everything, it sadly won't work, and $800 is too much when I don't know what the int'l plans are yet or whether I can ever tether the darned thing.

@12, ripoff? How so? The iPad "works with existing wi-fi networks. Did you expect it to work for free on wireless 3G networks? I know the Kindle advertises itself that way, but that's misleading when you compare it to an iPad.

@16: Then I'd have a $70 weirdly-shaped not-very-portable keyboard attachment that (a) doesn't look like it would fit nicely in a carry-on, and (b) looks like it doesn't tilt and isn't made to sit in my lap. That leaves me with my plane issue, and going back to my desk (which already has a laptop) if I want to type. The $40 case might make typing into it on one's lap somewhat tolerable, since it puts it at a much more appealing angle for both viewing and typing.

Look, I'm not a whiny jealous geek. I am an Apple user who matches Apple's core demographic, and the iPad looks like nothing more than a coffee table conversation piece from where I sit. Yes, it will blow the doors off the tablet market because the current tablet market is virtually nil.

@21: I agree that it will get the most mileage as a travel device. It looks fantastic for gaming, and e-reading. It's a Kindle-killer. It just doesn't seem like an Internet device, hence my disappointment.

@12 Gember…iPad starts at $499, not $799. And, the battery life is rated at 10 hours; which is pretty healthy. If you're taking longer trips, buy an external battery for it. At 10 hours, you'd be hard-pressed to find any other device that beats it.

As for your multi-tasking scenarios, I can pretty much to all of that on my iPhone now. Most every app on the iPhone saves its state before exiting, and launches the new app rapidly. So, while I agree that multi-tasking will be an important upgrade to the iPad, it doesn't "cripple" it now.

I'll bet we see multi-tasking within a year, available as software update to 1st Gen iPads. Any one want to take me up on that?

But, for all you nay-sayers…you're right, this thing will never sell.

um…oh, wait. It already has. ;-)

@24, my Kindle runs for weeks on a charge, especially if I turn the (free) wireless off. And the data plan is in fact free. That's not misleading.

The iPad is more capable than the Kindle in many ways but not all. But it's also a lot more expensive, so it darn well ought to be.

@26 Fnarf…there are appropriate ways to compare the Kindle and the iPad, and inappropriate ways.

Battery life: You win, but only on simple analysis. Who cares, in today's world, that your kindle can run for weeks on a single charge? Unless you're on an extended backpacking trip, the 10 hours of direct use and 30 days of standby in the iPad is sufficient for likely 95% of users.

Dataplan: OK, so you get an extremely limited use of the web on your kindle. That's no comparison to the data you can access on an iPad, and nobody, understanding that distinction, would claim this as a "win" for the Kindle. This is an disingenuous argument.

Price: The kindle with a comparaby-sized screen costs $489, compared to the $499 for the iPad. $10 is not "a lot more expensive."

Look, I don't care if some of you don't want to buy an iPad, but the need to diss on it, most usually from an uniformed opinion of the device itself, says more about the haters than it says about the fan boys or the device itself.

I have my wishlist for the iPad. Things I want it to do that it won't be able to do on day 1. I had my wishlist for the iPhone for things that it wasn't able to do on day 1, and most of those wishes have come true, added to my gen 1 iPhone through a simple software update.

My biggest wish? Add handwriting recognition to the device. The dislike of hwr by Jobs seems childish; but is clearly a better form of input for this device than is the on-screen keyboard. But, that said, the on-screen keyboard is perfectly adequate for a multitude of purposes.

For my uses (mostly reading/research), the iPad will be revolutionary.

Is there any way, right now, to annotate e-books, especially scribbling things in the margins? I like the portability and theory of something like the Kindle, especially. But not being able to deflower the books with marginal notes, a running index of patterns scrawled on the title page, dogears, and little Post-It flags means that, for now, I'm sticking with paper?

I also like how the part on the left side of a real book gets fatter as I read. And the part of the right side gets thinner. Progress!

Sorry about the random "?" there. I guess I'm in an interrogative mood today.

@29…there doesn't appear to be any eReader that allows you such freedom to take notes in the margins of books like you can do on a legacy book. But, then, you can't copy and paste quotes and created indexes of passages and search legacy books either. It's much more likely that eReaders will gain the tech you're asking for than legacy books will gain new features.

@25 for the obvious win.

The invisible hand already voted for the iPad. All your future tablet is belong to market leader.

OK, ten hours isn't enough for me. That's ideal usage - no networking, display brightness at the lowest setting, not a lot of CPU usage or memory access, when the device is first bought rather than a year and a half down the line when the capacity is naturally lower. So if my (Apple) laptop or (Apple) iPhone are any comparison for actual vs ideal battery life, I'd put practical life at 5 hours, probably less for heavy network usage. Of course the networking will be off while you're in flight, and maybe at the airport while you're waiting you can tether yourself to an outlet (and if you're at Narita after your twelve hour flight from the West Coast, be prepared to fight to the death over the one hidden outlet per terminal) and MAYBE your stopover will be long enough to recharge before you fly out again... but the device isn't going to last, in any practical capacity, through most international travel.

Meanwhile, yeah, I've taken Kindle on a four-leg-each-way trip to Istanbul and back, and we do well together. I leave networking off a lot of the time precisely because I don't like having to plug it in every 4 days. The display nerd in me loves electrophoretics - I know it's a young technology (but that means there's lots of room for improvement!) but the concept that if there's no new information to show the display doesn't need refreshing is revolutionary for power consumption.

As for @24's comments on multitasking, yeah, the iPhone doesn't really stop me from doing any one particular thing. But if I sit there flipping between IM and checking email (I think the max auto-check is like every 15 minutes and my email doesn't support pushing, though the move to push updates has made a world of difference for IM programs) I drain the battery in about an hour. Yeah, for my general mobile needs it's fine. For chatting with people and getting stuff done around the house? No.

@20 - the difference is that there will be thousands of apps written specifically to take advantage of the tablet interface. There are almost no applications written specifically to take advantage of the Windows tablet's form factor (which I assume you have, but you can plug a different OS in and my point would be the same).

Sure, the operating syatem helps you use applications that aren't specifically designed for a touchscreen, but that's quite a difference.

For example, I doubt you'll ever see a two-turn-table DJ app designed to take advantage of multi-touch targeted for the Windows tablet, whereas in a year or so there will probably be 10 to choose from in the iPad app store.

@33…well, then, good thing you already own a Kindle.

My iPhone, bought on day 1 of the iPhone release still works great. Battery still holds a long charge. But, for those rare occasions where I need more battery, I also bought (for under $10 on ebay) an external battery that provides double the charge. Such devices will exist shortly for the iPad.

You've decided that what you need is a book, and only a book, that you'll never have need for the other feature of the iPad.

The irony is that to the other side, legacy book owners will argue with you that their books NEVER run out of batteries. What you'll be left with is arguing the feature-set of the device you own. And, I agree with you, the Kindle offers enhanced functionality for those who want it or need it. But, so does the iPad relative to the Kindle.

Your mileage may vary.

@36: Actually I don't just want an ereader - at any given time I usually find myself travelling with a laptop, GPS device (if I'm renting a car on the other end), iPhone, iPod*, GPS running watch**, Kindle, magazine for the arbitrary amount of time before landing and after takeoff when the attention tyrants won't let me use electronics, and camera. I would LOVE to just be able to carry around one thing instead. I'm not saying I'm not the market for this device and I don't want one and therefore it's going to fail. My issue with it is, by all accounts I *AM* the target market for something like it. I buy overpriced apple products. I travel a lot and like to stay connected at home. I'm sick of carrying around so many devices and would love to replace them with fewer expensive things to jostle around in limited carryon space. I had high hopes for the long-rumored tablet, but really, it just doesn't replace anything well enough to do without it. That's why I'm annoyed at Apple. They could do better. I think existing eReaders have a lot of flaws and was hoping Apple would come along and solve a lot of them, like they largely did with smartphones/PDAs.

* because the iPhone has such small capacity that I'm always having to cut what I store on it, and yeah knowing I'll want the max storage and the device being a brick without 3g in places where there's no free wifi is why the iPad is an $800 device instead of a $500 one for me to even consider it
** because I bought an iPhone when they first came out, so it has no GPS, and of course the turds at Apple won't let me use a Nike+ with it, so I have to carry around two things just to go running.

@27, your cheerleading is getting to be almost as annoying as Will's.

My arguments are not disingenuous. I'm merely pointing out the ways that the devices are not comparable, and the ways they are. On battery life, your chosen God is simply a loser. There are lots of reasons why a device tethered to a power outlet is less convenient than one that isn't. You don't have to be backpacking to get that.

The iPad that costs the same as a Kindle DX is about the same price as the DX -- but HAS NO DATA PLAN. Without it, you still have the advantages of an iPad over a Kindle, but you're missing one of the huge advantages of a Kindle -- books magically appear the instant you buy them, no matter where they are. I can order books from work and go home and they're there waiting for me, almost as fast as I can turn it on. I can order and receive books if I'm sitting in a motel room in Bumfuck, Idaho. If you want that with an iPad, your iPad just got insanely more expensive -- several times more expensive over the probable life of the product. You can squeal all you like, but this is, in fact, a real advantage for the Kindle.

Where the iPad shines is in web browsing and custom apps. No one is disputing that; web browsing on the Kindle is a joke.

The reason people even have this conversation is because the two devices are not exactly comparable. You keep pretending that they are, and that the iPad wins every conceivable comparison, hands down. That's just not true. They both have their pluses and minuses.

You are dead-set on setting this up as a bitter struggle to the death between two gladiators, and you keep trying to pin me down as the pro-Kindle, anti-iPad guy, because that's the argument you want to have. It would be nice if you would instead listen to what I'm trying to tell you. I'm not that guy. They're both interesting devices. I have a Kindle; but if you've read anything I've ever had to say about it, you'd know that it's at least 50% negative.

@29, you can annotate books on the Kindle, and take notes, by the way. It's clumsy, and a pain in the ass, but you can do it. And yes, @31, you CAN copy quotations, and save them to a file, which can be accessed back on your real computer after you transfer it. Again: cumbersome, but possible.