The whole vision of the iPad is to fall between a laptop and an iPhone or iPod Touch. It was never intended to be a watered-down laptop. The iPad is a more specialized device rather than a generalist like a netbook. Like el Jefe said in the speech, he wanted the tablet to do a few things well. The main things are the internet, movies and music, books, and apps/games. If you want to do other stuff, you'll just use a regular computer. The people who will buy an iPad aren't people who need their device to do everything; they just want a device that can do a few things very well.

Once we understand this, then we can understand what the iPad is all about. So, what are the criticisms, anyway?

Flash Support:

It was an EPIC FAIL when Steve was reading the NY Times, and that familiar icon that iPhone users are used to seeing on websites popped up. This criticism is actually a good one. Flash is still used by tons of websites, and if the iPad is supposed to be excellent at looking at websites, not supporting flash is straight up dumb. If you like to play Flash-based games on Facebook like Farmtown or Restaurant City, for example, you're out of luck on the iPad.

However, one thing about Flash is that it's a bit antiquated. It hogs computer resources, and it's becoming less relevant every day. With HTML 5 and CSS 3.0 already supported by the most modern browsers, many of Flash's tricks are easily reproduced by using web standards compliant technologies like HTML and CSS, plus Javascript. Sure, some lazy developers probably won't be changing up their Flash-based sites for awhile, but the truth is, Flash's days are numbered. UPDATE: Maybe the iPad will have Flash support?

Camera:

No Camera! So what? Are you telling me that you want to take pictures with this huge tablet thing? Don't drop it! With regards to video support for things like videoconferencing, I don't think the tablet is the right device. For one, you'd have to hold the tablet, so videoconferencing would be sort of wonky. Of course, on the other hand, with a stand, videoconferencing makes a bit of sense on the tablet. I wouldn't be surprised if v.2 comes with a video camera. I mean, if they can put one in an iPod, why not a tablet?

Multi-tasking:

The iPad is a specialist, not a generalist. There really isn't much need to switch back and forth between a web page and an other app. You either browse the web, or you use the app. Same thing with video content. You usually just focus on watching. With books, again: You focus on reading, that's it. Of course, there probably is a degree of multi-tasking on the device, similarly to the iPhone: You can listen to music while you do other stuff, for example.

No Optical Media:

Optical media is dying. I expect Blu-Ray to be the last mainstream optical media format. It's all about the internet and wifi, and it's better for content providers and consumers.

But! Let's look at the bright side:

Gorgeous Screen:

The screen is very nice, and is perfect for consuming digital media, whether it's movies or webpages. It's awesome for gaming too.

Long Battery Life:

Great for those long flights. You can watch a few movies on it, no problem. That won't happen with a laptop, or even a netbook.

Games:

This looks like a serious threat to Nintendo and Sony. Those tiny screens just can't compete with the massive iPad screen. Plus there are thousands in the app store, and most of them cost significantly less than what you would pay for a Nintendo DS or PSP game.

Digital Content:

This is the whole point of the iPad, and this is where it excels. If you want to read, watch, or listen to digital content on the go, then the iPad is for you.

So, just to clear things up, the iPad is not a generalist computing device, it's a specialist device. If you're the type of person who likes to consume digital media, then consider it for that purpose. If you're a person who wants to edit digital photos, write documents, program, and multi-task, you're probably better off sticking to a laptop. The iPad is a device for passive activities, not active. It's not a netbook, but it never was intended to be one either.

Apple has done a great job of keeping this under wraps. No one really knows the fun parts of what the tablet is--except for people who have been given very clear instructions to keep their mouths shut. Based on everything that I don't know, it seems to me like the Tablet is going to be an iPod for a wider range of digital content. It will be an iPhone minus the phone, with a bigger screen--optimized for websites, movies, and digital publications. This is just a big duh.

What's really interesting to me is how Apple is going to make money, and quite honestly this tablet is going to be a money machine for Apple--even more than the iPod and iPhone mixed with iTunes. Let's take a look:

First, they sell you the tablet. My guess is that it will be cheaper than people expect. Many people are saying $1000, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's closer to $600. I don't want to go on about why I think it'll be so cheap, but take a moment and think about how HP Printers are like $80, and print cartridges (which have to be purchased over and over) cost $40. HP isn't making the money on the printer, and Apple isn't going to be making the money on the sale of tablets, just like AT&T doesn't make any money selling iPhones. UPDATE! This is now being backed up by Gizmodo. You read it here first.

So, you throw down your money, and you now have a shiny (of course!) tablet device. Of course, out of the box, it doesn't do too much. Sure, you can get online and add your contacts, but that's kinda boring. The tablet becomes a bit more interesting when you use it to download and view content. But first! Before that content gets on your shiny new tablet, let's take a look behind the scenes.

I'm a content provider. Let's call me the "New York Zeitgeist". I have tons of people on staff doing research and writing great stuff, and people love it. A long time ago, people were paying a premium price for that content printed on paper. In addition, people were paying big bucks for us to print their ads in there. Then, the internet happened, and to get with the times, I put all that content online. Of course, now the advertisers are still there, but the readers aren't paying anything for the content. It's OK in a way because I don't have to print as much, but those revenues just aren't what they used to be. Then, this California dude driving an SL-55 shows up at our offices with a halo over his head, and a magical device in his hands. When this guy talks, people listen.

Here's what he proposes:

Keep creating good content, there is a market for it.

Translate that content to digital, with some little spaces where we'll put ads.

Charge a small fee for access to that content.

Sit back and relax while our device figures out who is reading the content, and what media they consume. Meanwhile, we've got a whole ton of advertisers paying big bucks to be placed in those ad spaces.

Next, a user views your content on our device, and they're shown ads that reflect their taste.

You get paid. CPM = An amount per 1000 views. CPC = Anytime a user clicks an ad. CPA = Everytime a user clicks an ad and makes a purchase.

In the past, you got paid for ads one time, but you had to continue to create content to keep that money coming. Now, you create the content once, and the money keeps coming. Forever.

You don't need to waste money and resources to print. You don't need to spend big bucks to distribute your content. We just built a fat data center to handle all that. We'll collect $ from the advertisers, and we'll pass it over to you.

Your troubles are over. Oh, and welcome to the future, print media.

...And of course Apple. They're taking a little chunk of every ad that gets displayed. Every app that's sold, every movie, every song. Remember Apple's cross-town rivals named Google? Apple is gonna be Google 2.0, except instead of serving ads on questionable SEO'd content, they'll be serving ads on quality content from publications we trust.

When you get your new, shiny Apple tablet in just a few short months, you can bet that the first thing you'll want to do is log on to their all-new content delivery service (whether it's called iTunes or something else), where you'll be exposed to ads from Quattro (which will probably have a cooler name soon), all served from their massive data center in North Carolina. The app/music store model has done very well for Apple, and you can bet that this new device will be Apple's biggest win yet.

No wonder analysts are saying the Apple stock is headed to $1000.