Is The iPad Truly "Magical And Revolutionary"? (AAPL)

Today, as we all know, Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) resident creepy-cult-leader CEO Steve Jobs announced the latest technological wonder: the iPad. Jobs claims that the iPad is "a truly magical and revolutionary product" that takes the premise of a netbook and the iPhone and somehow combines them into the Next Big Thing in technology.

Bad name choices aside (seriously, the iPad? That's what you guys came up with?), I'm kind of disappointed. I am by no means an Apple junkie; I use PCs not because I somehow identify with them as Madison Avenue would have you believe, but because I think they're better than Macs. I do have an iPhone, though, and that wonderful piece of technology is the best phone I've ever seen and the last one I'll ever buy. So, this is not an anti-Apple rant. (Or even an anti-iPad rant. Really.)

As usual, Apple hyped up its product by keeping the product shrouded in secrecy - which ironically enough is the exact opposite of hyping, but somehow it works. Rumors whirled and Apple didn't really do a lot to control them. This was, I think, a mistake, because expectations rose so high that the iPad would have to cure cancer, desalinize water, and put a man on the moon to live up to the hype.

Now, it looks like an iPhone on crack.

But hey, I think the iPhone is great. So maybe the iPad will be great. And it hosts some impressive features - the latest in WiFi; a 1 GHz ARM Apple A4 chip; 16-64 GB of flash memory. It also can be equipped with a tactile keyboard attachment as well as a stand. And there's no question this thing will sell like hotcakes; legions of rabid Apple fans would swarm into Apple stores and buy them by the truckload even if it was perpetually on fire, reeked of sulphur and brimstone, and indwelt by a demon.

(No metaphor intended.)

So, I know that from a business standpoint, the iPad will sell. We all know that. I'm just not convinced that it is superior to a laptop. A netbook? Sure, I'll buy that. A Kindle? Maybe. The breaking point, I guess, is whether or not the capabilities of the iPad justify the price, seeing as how a netbook that is perfectly suitable for its purpose can be bought for as little as $250 and a Kindle only costs $259. I don't intend on buying an iPad; I have a laptop that works great and does everything an iPad can do and more, and I don't mind the extra 3 pounds and three inches to carry around. That's why I have a travel bag.

This is the technology sector, though, and the success of a product ultimately is in how much money it brings in, not any metric of superiority. By that standard, I'm sure the iPad will bring plenty of happiness and joy to the Jobs family, as well as the approximately 8 billion people who own Apple stock.

Just please change the name. Maybe the next version can be called the iJobs. (Wouldn't that be a suitable name for this economy.)