This is almost exactly what I expected Apple to do to compete in the netbook market, and I think it is a smart move for them.
That being said, there are a few things that will keep me from buying this product, because it doesn't fulfill what I need/want in a netbook.
While I am not desperate enough to use a netbook for creating content, that is what real computers are for, this doesn't fill the role that netbooks fill in my household either.
1) No Flash/Silverlight support
While I have no love for flash, and will welcome the day that HTML5 makes it totally obsolete. That day hasn't arrived yet.
My youngest daughter is all about Webkinz. She plays on that site as much as she does all other internet sites put together and doubled. That site is built on flash. So, to put it simply, this device will not fulfill the primary usage of my youngest daughter for her netbook.
My oldest daughter likes to stream video from Hulu and Netflix on her netbook. Given that Hulu requires flash to stream videos and Netflix requires silverlight this removes the iPad from contention for her.
2) No video camera
My oldest daughter uses the video camera to video conference with her friends quite a bit. I use it to video conference with my mother. Given that the iPad doesn't have a video camera built-in (Seriously who overlooked this? Every netbook has a built-in video camera.) nor does it have the capability to add a video camera this fails to meet this usage of our netbooks.
3) No external storage
Both of my daughters use their netbooks as portable video players on long drives or when they have to sit somewhere and wait for my wife or I. To this end I have saved a lot of movies onto an external USB drives that they can easily carry with them and attach to the netbook as needed.
Since the iPad has neither a USB port or an SD Card slot. (Note: This could possibly be remedied by the available SD card reader that plugs into the dock.) There is no viable alternative for making our large library of video available to my daughters.
This is perhaps my biggest gripe against Apple. They need to get over their desire to gouge people for more internal storage by not including an SD card reader or USB port on their portable devices. Join the rest of the world in this century Apple. You will make plenty of money from those content sales.
4) App Store only applications
Until Apple quits playing morality police with the App Store I will not purchase any of their devices which limit me to only running what they okay. I am a grown adult, and a paying customer, if I wish to read a book that has the f' word in it, then I will be damned if I am going to stand for Apple telling me that I cannot read that book on MY device.
I really don't have a problem with them vetting the programs for malicious or dangerous code. That doesn't extend to content. Apple isn't my mother, and I will not have a company tell me what I can and cannot view on my devices.
Eventually, I think they will get over this idiocy, heck they have with the iTunes store, but until such time. No App store only Apple product for me.
I am excited about the iPad. I think it will sell well, and I am sure that within a few iterations many, if not all of my concerns will be addressed, and in a few years when they have pulled their heads out of their asses about playing morality police with the App Store and hopefully quit trying to gouge the consumer by not building in an SD card slot or USB port, when it is time to replace our current netbooks, hopefully I will be buying a new slick iPad version 3.
