Ye same as a designer I feel the same way sars. Difference is I have no need what so ever for an iPad just like spectre and at £500+ for a glorified iPhone I still wont buy one. If Adobe wack the creative suit or lightroom on it or do I say it... A decent pen with pressure sensitivity It will be a fantastic device for me. It just hasn't matured quickly enough for me. But then it is a consumer device... but people like David Hockney have used it for full on art creation...
I went to see A Bigger Picture by David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts and (the stuff is not really my taste, but I like to consume as much visual as I can for inspiration) but his artwork on the iPad was incredible! He is also 74 years old, says it all really.
I find making purchases like this difficult unless it increases my productivity... sad, as my impulse purchases are going down... lol. But anyway my 13" macbook pro does everything I want and more compared to the iPad, I can work away from the desk and on location with it on shoots, and edit my images on the fly, show clients work in real time programs etc which is what I need, its great for personal use too. The only thing I dont really use it for is my graphic design work because the screen is too small for intricate work but I have an iMac and mac pro so those are my other solutions. It will be replaced by the 13" MBA next simply because I love using it and they aren't that much bigger than iPads but have 100x more usability as a professional. Yes they are twice the money but I make money with it so its a no brainer really.
I have to agree with sp3ctre again. I didnt buy myself one but my mum and she is hooked it does everything she wants on a good screen, portable in the house, she streams music to random systems in the house while doing house work etc and all her email and aps are there. I didnt show her how to do any of it either... Instead of the typical 'TOM! Show me how to do this' the technology made her explore what it could do. I dont hear a dicky bird from her, whereas with the iMac I bought her she would never use it because it was in a different room and couldn't use it while cooking or watching tv ect, and she didn't want to use it for that reason.
Which is my point earlier they just work and for Apple has looked at 90% of the market and designed to it. I mean my Nana at nearly 80 has one! Since when have tech companies been able to target the over 70 market successfully?? When you grab an iPad you just know what to do with it.. its almost natural. It is fantastic design. But I would buy my GF one instead of a laptop etc simply because that 90% audience want it for email, music and video, web browsing, fun etc and the iPad does all of this better than any other device on the market, including laptops and desktops.
Thats the point, these devices are designed for the biggest target audience I think a lot of people on here as forumites are tinkerers probably in that 10% Apple products weren't designed for, and want more or lust after more features, but are missing the point of the device. Which is why there are other items on the market. At the end of the day volume speaks for itself. It is a complete winner, they wanted to target the people who were almost scared of technology and create a great looking device. Minimal and encapsulates everything you need in a stunning package. Exactly the same as the iPhone.