I was personally hoping for a new user experience. I want a tablet like Microsoft's Courier prototype. It's a book, which can easily be held with one hand. You interact with it in fundamentally different ways than both a phone and a laptop. It serves an entirely different purpose.
The iPhone works because I can operate it with one hand. They effectively took the iPod Touch and scaled it up... this left me underwhelmed. If anything they should have made the tablet just a laptop without a keyboard... at least then I could dev on it.
The thing that made the iPhone stand out was that it was a completely new way to interact and use such devices. It gave phones a level of power that previously did not exist. People were comparing the iPhone to other phones. People are going to compare the iPad with other tablets/laptops and realize how limited it is.
I want a tablet like Microsoft's Courier prototype.
This is why Apple doesn't do concepts and prototypes anymore. There is undoubtedly someone at Microsoft wincing every time someone says something like that, seeing as how they don't have a product to sell you along those lines in spite of being on their third try at tablets. (I don't mean that at a jibe at you at all--what you say is perfectly reasonable!)
People are going to compare the iPad with other tablets/laptops
True, but I'm not convinced that everyone will do so and that those who do will not decide in favor of the iPad.
I mean, it compares in some ways to smart phones, netbooks, laptops, gaming portables, eBook readers, and media players. Obviously it's not going to be the best at everything, but I think it stands a good chance of being a successful blend--Apple won't win everybody, but they might win a respectable share over from each. A $500 laptop or netbook might "do more", but is the battery life there? Is it pleasant to curl up in bed and read on? Do people want Windows or do they want the App Store? The Kindle DX is about $500. Are people going to weigh e-ink against everything the similarly-priced iPad does? Is someone looking at a $400 iPod Touch going to reconsider the importance of portability?
