So What is the iPad anyway? It's Obvious it's NOT a big iPhone or iTouch. So, WHAT IS IT?

It’s a bridge between the iPhone and the mac. It may someday replace the notebook, but not for a long time.

Ditto @missingbite

It’s a big ipod Touch, because of the size, you can do a lot more with it. Add a keyboard, and it’s almost a netbook. (And someone does/will offer a keyboard for it).

It’s technically a tablet. I’m waiting for Microsoft’s, which looks amazing so far.

PC Tablets are not new concept. IBM, HP and Toshiba had their share of tablets produced and discontinued in the last decade. I guess its a perpetual attempt to re-invent the wheel.

@njnyjobs

It seems to me like Tablets have never been that popular.

A waste of precious metals and silicon

Cash cow.

Yes, it is a big iPod Touch.

It’s Apple and you’re not.

Ok. This is not a question to start a bashing mode answering group. This is a device that does a lot but it can’t define itself. the iPod touch it’s a music player that let’s you buy apps to do a lot more. the iPhone its a phone that let you buy apps to do a lot more. I know the iPad let you buy apps to let you do more. BUT WHAT IS IT??? a Tablet? a Netbook? a Mini Computer? a PMP? WHAT IS IT?

@AlbertKinng iPad is basically a computer in tablet form, customizable at the option of the owner.

It’s a tablet. The beauty of Apple products is that they don’t try to be everything to everyone. Those that find it a good fit between a desktop & a laptop will buy.

Hype.

so, if I Tell someone that the iPad is a tablet I wont be lying???

Tablet, yeah, that’s probably best (after “big iPod Touch”)

No you won’t be lying. It is a tablet.

It’s the next gadget that we must all buy! NOW! Consume, consume, consume. The fate of our society depends on it.

I don’t think I can give a better answer than John Gruber, who wrote about iPad on Daring Fireball.

How, exactly, do you get that “It’s obvious it’s not a big iPod Touch”?

It’s obvious that that’s exactly what it is.

@MrItty I was thinking like that when I saw it on the Apple webpage and read about it online. But when a co-worker bring one to the radio station I work for and suddenly I was using a really cool computer. He show me THINGS, PRINTER SHARE, READDLEDOCS, AIR SHARING HD, STICK IT, STUDIO TRACK, HD LOOP, PAGES, KEYNOTE, PDF READER PRO and others. If you use those apps on the iPad you will realize that it is NOT a big iPod Touch, it’s almost a new computer or laptop that runs the same OS as the iPhone but is so powerful that leave the iPod Touch behind. Trust me, it is not an iPod Touch. (I write them all in my HTC phone Hero, and that’s why I put them here)

Piece of junk. Waste of money.

it’s the new thing for that time of the month! its suppose to be like a huge ipod touch yet, and an E-book combined.

ok. thanx for nothing. whatever. I will still call it “the thing that does a lot” then.

The same thing was said about the iPhone and that beyond the novelty of the multitouch it was just an iPod with a cell radio. People still complain about the lack of multitasking and flash. All complaints aside once you feet your hands on one there is a moment of “a-ha!” that defies explanation. It looks and feels stunning, and like the iPhone, will continue to get better as the software matures.

I say let the haters keep hatin’ like they did with the iPhone, but they can’t deny the incredible ecosystem and push forward into cloud computing that is suggested by this device.

Been on spring break and haven’t broken out my laptop once since getting the iPad…looking forward to note-taking and basics at meetings where I used to lug around the laptop.

Thank you for mentioning the iPhone’s incredible feel as well as great looks and elegant function.
I wouldn’t excpect anything from a phone that I wouldn’t expect from a girlfriend.

At the moment it is a big iPod Touch, thats why I call the iPod Touch the iPad Nano, so far I haven’t gotten sick of that joke, yes, I will continue to regurgitate it.

I’d only concider getting it when I see the cracked and hacked versions that people create for it. Maybe put Linux on it! That’d be fun.

It’s a revolutionary device in which you hold the internet in your hands.

Umm.. I’ll need to keep one hand free..

It’s a toy.

ok. I get it. Wrong forum. I’m Done. Thanx @sndfreQ @netgrrl @missingbite

It is simply a big iTouch. Nothing more.

Thanks for the link @sferik

To those who say it’s a big iPod Touch, even as reductionist as that sounds, what’s so wrong with that concept? Have you tried to read magazines/eZines or .PDFs on a device as small as an iPod Touch? If so then at least on the surface you understand the concept of wanting a bigger screen.

@rahm_sahriv No it’s not. It works almost the same as an iPod Touch so people don’t have to learn a completely new system. The iPhone OS is a very good OS. Almost everybody knows how to use an iPhone. Remember, the point of Apple Computers and all of technology is to make life easier. Yes it might seem like an iPod touch but it isn’t one. The apps are different, they’re made especially for the iPad. They’re made to take advantage of the big screen and I bet that if the iPad came before the iPhone everyone wouldn’t be complaning. Look at the native apps, then look at the 3rd party apps. Apps like Marvel comics, the WSJ, or Scrabble, were never really possible on the iPhone/iPod Touch, well they were but the screen was too small, and that wouldn’t be a good experience for the user (imagine playing Scrabble on a screen that small!). Were we able to do real word processing on the iPhone/iPod Touch? No. Were we able to make presentations on the iPhone/iPod Touch? No! Because the small screen was preventing us from doing that. The iPad is a little computer that does a lot. Just wait and see all the amazing apps that will come. The iPad gives us what we weren’t able to do on a small screen with a really amazing experience.
With a 10+ hour battery life!

It’s this medium-sized computerized tile we saw people on Star Trek walking around with 20 years ago. First we got the cell phone, now the iPad and eventually the tricorder. Isn’t science fiction great.

Better answer from me here