It is a $500+ device. At that point most people are looking for some guarantee that it's going to be useful. The iPad is an unusual product, because doesn't ad

It is a $500+ device. At that point most people are looking for some guarantee that it's going to be useful. The iPad is an unusual product, because doesn't address an obvious need. Laptops were just portable desktops. mp3 players were digital Walkmans. Smartphones are a combination of PDA, mp3 player, and phones. Most new classes of electronics are just an extension of an existing product in an obvious but technically-challenging direction. The iPad is more like the original PC - superficially similar to its predecessors, but used quite differently. People use their iPads in their own way. For me, the killer app was as an e-reader. I could easily read books and pdfs on my laptop, but the tablet form-factor is far more pleasant for reading. Reading on a laptop is a chore, whereas reading on the iPad feels quite natural. What trips people up about the iPad is that it isn't about the functionality. My MBP is more capable in almost every way. It's value lies in the fact that it does certain things extremely well that no other electronic device has been good at until now.