Your last paragraph, though, bothers me a bit. As far as I can tell, almost all personal computers–netbooks, notebooks, desktops, all-in-ones–are designed for and sold to people other than tech geeks. Either that, or most people are tech geeks, which I don’t buy. That personal computers allow tech geeks to go beyond the basics is quite another issue. You can customize the heck out of a Honda Civic, but I wouldn’t say it’s a car designed and sold for car customizers. I know too many people who aren’t tech geeks by any definition and who happily use various PCs (some Mac, some Windows…very few Linux).

Obligatory disclaimer: my ex-housemate and one current one work for Apple. But hey, I’m typing this on my faithful MSI Wind.

I wouldn’t buy the first rev, but then again that’s a good rule of thumb regardless of manufacturer. I do think touch-screen+portability+large screen does mean more than just a larger iPhone/iTouch, but we’ll see what developers actually offer once they start developing for the iPad rather than just porting over.

In general, while I don’t have much patience for killer app/device rhetoric, I do think it’s not overblown to suggest the iPad is qualitatively different and we might finally get devices designed for and sold to people other than tech geeks. Call me starry-eyed.

http://www.blendtec.com/willitblend/videos.aspx?type=unsafe&video=ipad