Available in 60 days, the somewhat "revolutionary" Apple iPad will attempt to bridge the gap between mobile phones, and laptop computers.

Like most Apple products, there is a degree of pure sexiness that can be a deciding factor when it comes time to purchase Apple gear. Fresh from cancer-ridden Job’s himself, the new Apple iPad (no, not the iSlate) is, in the most blunt terms, a giant iPod Touch. Its got a huge 9.7″ beautiful touchscreen and got the same home button, lock button, volume controls, and dock connector. And instead of watering down Mac OS X, they decided to vamp up the iPhone OS, reinventing all the default apps for your viewing. productivity pleasure. And they even highlighted a custom edition of iWork ’10 designed to go right on your iPad.

Unfortunately, Apple did not quite address the factors that would even make it comparable to a netbook. With no multitasking, nothing more than the same old boring homescreen (though you might be able to customize the background image), no camera, and nothing new than what the iPhone’s got, the only thing that impressed me was the price. Half of what was estimated, a base model will run you $499… pretty reasonable for a giant iPod Touch.

On a good note, Apple announced the iBookstore, which, as you guessed it, sells digital versions of popular books! Almost like Apple is trying to challenge the Kindle or Nook, I just don’t see true reading getting a solid footing on the iPad. And lets face it, the video on that device looks stunning! But that’s something we’ve come to expect from Apple and they didn’t really “wow” today. What I’m curious to see about is what hackers can do. Maybe George Hotz, after successfully cracking the PS3 just days ago, can get on the job in a few months and get the iPad jailbroken the same way a iPhone can. Imagine the possibilities.

In the end, it didn’t really disappoint, but it fell short from the same engineering excellence we expect from Apple. And to me, it looks like the hardware is there! But, why are we still forced to play around with “mobile” applications on a device meant to be the equivalent of a netbook? It’s questions that can probably be answered in a software update, but until the iPad software 2.0 or 3.0 comes out, I don’t think customers will be too amused with Apple’s lack of software development. Good job to the hardware team… 10 hours is quite impressive for the speed this unit has, but Scott Forstall, I expect more from you. I’ll be going a little more in depth on what I think of Apple’s latest, but for now, make your own conclusions and let us know using the comments below!