Up until now, I had rather different experiences. The other day I was waiting at the eye doctor's, reading on my iPad (sorry if that's too OT for anyone). After a while an older woman hesitatingly but admiringly asked me what it is I'm using since she has never seen one before. So I showed her my iPad, how to read eBooks on it, in portrait and pocket book mode, how to buy them online via 3G, and told her about the situation with eBooks being available from both Apple and Amazon directly on the device. She got especially excited when I showed her iBooks' page turning animations!
Another woman of the same age turned to us then, too. Eventually she also asked about the price, but wasn't totally shocked about it when I told her. And at that point she was even still under the impression this was only for reading books.
So far this has been the only time foreigners have actively come in contact with me about my iPad (as a reader or not). I haven't noticed any negative reactions yet.