I just finished following the Apple announcement of the iPad tablet device. As always, Steve Jobs and Apple pulled of a very slick presentation. The goal of this device was to bridge the tricky gap between an smartphone and a laptop. Apple has dismissed the idea of the “Netbook” as merely being an underpowered laptop, and from the experiences of people who bought into netbooks, I’d have to agree. Everyone I know who’s bought one has stopped using them, complaining they don’t do much.
With the iPad, Apple seems to have figured out the right combo. More like a grown up iPhone than a scaled down MacBook, its interface is very similar to the iPhone’s, but with changes that take advantage of the size and more powerful capabilities. I’m not going to do a full review here, but I will return to link to reviews and comments by people who’ve had a chance to test and look at the device first hand. In the meantime, learn about it on Apple’s site.