As an Apple admirer and sceptic, I haven't being paying close attention to the spec of this 'new' device.
Is this just an iPod touch, on steroids ? In terms of function, what can it do that the touch can not ? The bigger screen lends itself to being a competitor in the ebook market - is there any other functional difference ?
To be honest, the iPod Touch/iPhone on steroids is kind of true, but that's largely due to it using the same OS. That's got a few people in the media claiming it as a fancy iPhone, but that's not true. It uses the same OS because it's an OS designed specifically for a touch screen. Mac OS or even Windows aren't.
It's what can be done with the apps when they're developed that'll be the big thing like fully operational word/excell/powerpoint apps. The demo video has a couple of apps showing and they look great, but remember the apps designers probably only had a couple of weeks to throw them together. Imagine what they'll be able to do once they get used to what the iBodyform...iPad can do.
There's also some negativity that it isn't basically a touch screen, stand alone Macbook or something. The downside is that it isn't really designed as a stand alone device (though let's face it there's an awful lot of laptop users who only use it for photos, internet, email etc so this is perfect), it's designed to be a condensed version of your home computer to take out and about. Who really needs the full capability of their home computer when in a coffee shop or whatever?
Couple of things I'm still a bit irked about is the Flash issue. C'mon Apple! It's getting a serious problem now on the touch and phone without the flash recognition. I would have liked a built in camera, but that's more from a gadget point of view, I never use IM anyway....just want one is all. But a built-in video conferencing might have made this a good business product.
I'm not bothered about the lack of "multi-tasking", first that's easily sorted on the next OS update if needed, plus mutli-tasking slows everything down, plus it's not missed really on the touch or phone. Facebook and email updates are immediate, so why do they need to be running in the background?
Once the more buisness featured apps come through, like word, etc, they'll need to sort the multitasking out. You may need to browse while working on a doc. Closing down, saving, opening, hopefully cut and pasting, closing, opening, blah blah. It's going to be a pain.
The ebook thing hasn't really taken off, but I suspect more because it's another device you have to carry around. This way you've combined them and maybe it will open up the ebook market. Though I think the newspaper and magazine development will be the future.
I keep talking myself into it then out of it.