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I can see where Apple are coming from with the iPad - it's their take on what the original netbooks were trying to do. However those machines ended up becoming small form factor laptops running Windows.
Whether that was because the market rejected the netbook concept of a cheap, long battery life machine focussed on web applications or it was down to Microsoft mounting an aggressive campaign to promote Windows isn't clear.
The problem is that the iPad isn't really cheap. Nor is it very expandable. Whereas I think that the iPhone OS suits small devices like the iPhone/iPod touch well, I'm not sure it scales up well to provide the sort of functionality that people will want from a large tablet. And you are locked to getting your apps from the Apple App Store and using iTunes (ugh) to transfer stuff to and from the machine. Plus, whereas a tablet might at first glance seem a great form factor are really going to keep holding it out to surf and watch films? It's no problem to wield an iPhone for prolonged amounts of time but the iPad is a lot bigger.
From an eReading point of view, it will be great for comics and technical manuals if that's what you want your ereader for. Not so good for regular novels with a short battery life and a backlit screen and being quite large and heavy. That non user-replaceable battery isn't going to hold up well if it is constantly being charged either and what's the betting that Apple try to lock users into their own proprietary DRM-ridden system?
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