[citation][nom]species8472[/nom]Say what you will about the iPad or even Apple itself, the iPad is an amazing product. I would not buy it. To me, it's like an iPod Touch with more screen space and not worth the extra money.I would not mind finding an acceptable alternative to the iPad. The nook color seems to be a competitor to the iPad at the moment and it's horrible! The touch screen is imprecise, glitchy, not very sensitive, and the operating system is slow and jerky compared to the smoothness of the the iPad's operating system. If the Kindle Fire provides a good alternative experience to the iPad and the nook, I may consider picking one up.[/citation]
What made iPhone and then all iOS so popular was the great balance of hardware/software (OS), good development tools for third party apps, the app store/the whole content delivery infrastructure. And they were first to deliver it. This made it possible for them to charge so much too.
I'm not an iPhone fan and don't even need one. But it is a great all around product. It just delivers, although I think it has lots of rough edges but in comparison the competition is much worse.
I'd rather buy an android tablet but every time I've tried an android tablet and then when I look at an iPad. I cannot justify the buy at that price point!!! These things are just a toy and not very useful tools. They should cost much less.