What's the big deal? It's just a big iPod Touch. This may be true, but the thing that people seem to be missing about the iPad is the effect it will have on the industry. Very much the same way the iPhone did. People are talking about eBooks.  Although eBooks on the device by know means look to be revolutionary, it does seem as though it will do it, and do it well.  The iPad however is already making waves in the eBook industry forcing established companies such as Amazon to change things.  Right now it's just a price war but who knows what it will turn into.
As a kid I used to collect comics.  For whatever reason I never really read them.  Recently though I've picked up a few digital comics for the iPhone and have actually enjoyed it more then I thought I would.  This makes me think that I may actually get into them when they are optimized for the bigger device.  This is the one thing I've heard more then anything else on the interwebs, even more then complaints.  How amazing digital comics will be.  It's yet to be seen but I think there is a very good possibility that comics on the iPad could revolutionize things a bit.
As an IT professional I make my living helping those having trouble with technology.  I see that about 80% of the computer population use their machines for two things.  Internet and word processing.  Guess what, the iPad does both.  The iPhone did more to move the cell phone market forward then any device before it.  Even with the initial limited capabilites.(before the app store)  Will the iPad do the same in it's respective category, whatever that category may be.
So here is the million dollar question.  Just because it's been done a certain way historically doesn't means it's the right way.  The computer gives you limitless possibilities and options, but 9 times out of 10 do you need that extra "stuff".  Will the iPad revolutionize the netbook/tablet market?  Will it change the way we read books and comics?  Or maybe, instead of changing the game it will change the player.

As I sit on the floor of gate B22 at the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport, writing this tethered to my iPhone 3GS, I reminisce about two years ago.  Why two years ago?  Well two years ago is when cell phones as we know it changed.  Two years ago, the iPhone was released.  Back then we didn't have touch screens, apps stores, and fully functioning internet devices.  The iPhone changed all that.  It changed what a cell phone is to a person.  It has become an entertainment device unlike any other.  I dare you to be bored with an iPhone in hand.  There has been many other similar devices released but nothing nearly as "smart" as Apple's iPhone.

I remember sitting in a similar position two years ago for an entirely different reason.  I wasn't waiting for a flight to a family reunion.  I was waiting for the first of these devices.  The first iPhone.  I was so excited and my excitement was justified.  It was the greatest tech gadget I had ever laid my hands on.  Despite it's many deficiencies, I was perfectly content.  Their were wish's I had for the device, most of which has been addressed.  I listened to one of Eplesauce's podcast which focused on the original iPhone a couple month's ago and everything we talked about that we thought would make the device better has been fixed.

So now I write this connected to my new 3GS.  The newest revision of the famed iPhone.  I know that this will be a consistent cycle one that will probably never change as long as Apple keeps making iPhones.  The changes aren't all that big but they are enough to make me want to upgrade.  So for now I write with and about the iPhone 3GS.  Maybe next year, early summer, you will be reading a post about the iPhone 4G, with video iChat, and the ability to solve world hunger, and the energy crisis.