I always find it so hilarious how worked up people get over apple's products. The iPad is just a thing. It will be really useful for some people and useless for others. You know, like a circular saw. We all know people who will never touch a circular saw in their lives, but I bet none of them run around telling us how stupid saws are.
But I guess getting all amped up about it is pretty fun too.
The stupidly named iPad is a product that will work great for me. I'm buying one. Apple's iphone works for me as well, I've owned two. The ipod touch is useless for me, I won't ever own one. I haven't used a "classic" ipod since I got the iphone. My little windows netbook gets used all the time but is a nightmare as far as user interface is concerned. My laptop is great, but is still a pain to haul out if I just want to check email on the couch or surf the web at the local pub over a beer.
But if your life isn't like mine, perhaps the iPad won't be for you. That's fine, plenty of other great products out there.