This device is total fail. There's just no practical use for it, no reason for anyone to want it. The iPad was a great extension of the iPhone, that is to say an all touchscreen portable device sufficient for browsing the web. It was designed for those who simply wanted more interactivity/larger screen. This playbook is simply trying to make a niche for itself by copying the same idea, and hoping that having it 3" smaller will help it stand out. Ultimately the device is too small to break the cell-phone barrier for functionality, uses a proprietary OS that nobody will care to develop for (much like the original BB os), and has a new UI that basically tries to "be different" while "being the same" as current mobile UI's. RIM is terrible with UI's and while they didnt directly develop this one, I can already see its shortcomings. Coupled with no 3G capability (without tethering to your BB if you still use one of those), lousy hardware, and this sudden reliance on Adobe products as some sort of selling point, this device will fall between the cracks like most of RIM's offerings in the last 5 years.
RIM's only claim to fame was email on your phone. But now any phone can do that, and 10x better. I really dont see RIM having anywhere else to go now. No way they can compete and innovate with google/apple/microsoft.