I am not going to say you are wrong, but to be honest, touch screen games aren't all that fun. Maybe they will innovate, but that is up to the developers not Apple.

I've played several touch screen games that I really enjoy, and there are apparently thousands who agree with me. Just take a look at the number of game companies that, literally, were able to start up solely on the strength of iPhone sales.

Now that I have a much bigger form factor, and a much faster processor, I imagine I'll enjoy these games more. And don't forget that the device has accelerometers, the same technology that single handedly saved Nintendo from the same fate as Sega. I think this device should be great for gaming. And the great thing about that statement is that I'm not talking about a console, but a computer that can also do word processing, emails, web surfing, chatting and a couple thousand other things as well.

Allow me to summarize:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2oEmPP5dTM

:D

I don't see it denting Nintendo or Sony's market on the handheld gaming platform though.

I have downloaded tons of games for my iPhone and maybe only a handful were even decent.

Again, just my opinion.

Well, yes - I think that's exactly what people are going to do. Maybe tiresome for video. Probably very good for still photos. In fact maybe even wonderful.

I think the iPad needs a web-cam. My wife loves her netbook ($300 Samsung running XP) because it has a web cam. She can talk to the rest of the family from the anywhere at home, while watching TV, doing email or whatever. The iPad looks even better. However she won't buy it without the beloved web-cam.

You say smart ass I say smart arse :D.

okay....

stick a webcam in it, give it more horsepower, let it multitask and let me install my own apps and I will buy one.... possibly 2..

..until then its a useless brick (a very thin brick... but still a brick)

At that point, just get a MBP. Webcam: check. More horsepower: check. Multitasking: check. Installation of 3rd party apps: check.

Netbooks already have better specs, more horse power, more features (wifi, bluetooth, webcam, flash support, etc) and if you wanted to, you can make it a hackintosh. In fact so many people were buying netbooks and making them hackintoshes that Apple dropped all support for the Atom processor in 10.6.2 I think.

Of course you can also run Linux on them. $400 will buy one hell of a netbook. Asus, also announced their touch screen netbook this week also.

Ah, yes. The netbook's good - however the form factor of the iPad is awesome. You can read an eBook in bed on an iPad.

My wife's a very avid reader and consumes 2 or 3 books a week from the public library. I've never her seen her reading a PDF (or any other so called eBook) on her netbook. We've been talking about a Kindle. The iPad looks much better. It's in color for a start and you can surf the web.

The Kindle's a whole new platform with limited everything. The iPad's a new hardware device for a successful and existing platform.

I posted this earlier, but check out the skiff, I think it will be the dominant eReader if it lives up to what it is being hyped for.

http://www.skiff.com/skiff-reader_photos.html

The fact that it is bend-able is awesome in my mind.

I was under the impression that, although the screen itself is bendable, the actual device is not. i.e. the magnesium housing is stiff.

It does look good though...

Well, their site shows this

http://www.skiff.com/images/reader_p...ics/shot05.jpg

True, but if you look closely, the bit round the edge does not match the bezel in the other pictures. Plus, they only ever say that the screen is flexible:

(from http://www.skiff.com/press_1-4-2010.html)

Thanks for bringing my attention to that. That device is amazing. Folks have been predicting eBook readers for years and the war is about to start. It'll be fun to watch. Books and Magazines will be redefined - they'll have embedded video for a start and Newspapers will display adverts aligned to the user's profile.

I've wandered off course into the long grass of eBook Readers when this thread is about the iPad. However the iPad looks like a very nice eBook reader (and music player, and email reader and browser and photo frame).

Sir your attention to detail is immaculate and sadly, I did not pick up on that. I normally have a great attention for details and that one got by me.

robin-

Yup, I work in a 1:1 in edu, meaning every highschool kid has their own Macbook. It freaked out some of the Librarians as they thought it would be the beginning of the end of books. I like the idea of eReaders as I have about 50 tech books in my library at home with most of them being over 500 pages, and they are physically large books. There is no way I would haul all of those around and there are times where I would rather have a separate device to read information while using my computer. Or if I need a manual when I break something apart and work on it. I think they would be awesome for that.

I also don't think books are going anywhere either. If I want to read a novel, I will curl up on the couch with a beverage and a book, and not use a piece of technology (though I guess technically a book is technology).

This is funny

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/f7a...pad?rel=player

Considering the only tablet I would have accepted would be an OS X-based laptop-in-tablet form... I won't be buying this giant iPhone.
Several other companies offer actual tablets that can run a real OS and multitask. This... is a toy to me.

No way. The only way it could compete with a DS or PSP would be if the same games were released on this platform. Or at the very least, similar games.
I sure don't see that happening.

To me this is the "grab-ya" first edition. I'm willing to bet that down the road, Apple has plans for a device that "can run a real OS and multitask." That's when I'll jump on the bandwagon too. In the meantime, my iPod Touch goes in a pocket and has the same functionality basically.