The Steve Jobs iPad Tablet media show at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco was always going to have a hard time living up to the ridiculous prelaunch hype that's been circulating around the Web.

Steve's presentation was more moderated than at previous product launches as he tried to manage expectations positioning the device as a tweener product—"more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smartphone.''

By the time we emerged from the iPad presentation and the demo area where, under the watchful eyes of the Apple execs and security staff, we were allowed to play briefly with the device and the few announced accessories, it was obvious that the world was much the same as when we went in.

This was always going to be Apple's toughest audience. The crowd reaction was generally positive if rather muted. Of course, the group was largely press who have a tendency to be ultracritical and even cynical given the amount of marketing and PR hype to which they are subjected. People also react to what they know and understand and have more difficulty seeing the longer-term vision and opportunity.

A big challenge facing Apple's iPad is that, unlike phones and laptops, this is a nice thing to have, not an essential product. But it's a very slick device, and a lot people will want one even if they don't absolutely need it. It's a product that will evolve and build over time rather than being an instant success.

The light and thin iPad has a bright and crisp resolution, the performance is fast. Websites (well those without flash) look great. Unmodified apps scale up to full screen and generally are acceptable, while the Apps written for the enhanced iPhone operating system raise the bar significantly.

A typical reaction that it's just a big iPod Touch is understandable since that's what it looks like, but that does not start to do justice to the device and the engineering effort that went into the product and supporting ecosystem. Customers understandably may see this as a bigger iPod Touch, but it's no trivial matter to take a multitouch captivate screen to 9.7 inches.

The "magic" in Apple iPad is just how seamlessly it appears to work. It's going to be a while before Apple's competitors can match the functionality in a similar form factor, which could give Apple an 18 to 24 month lead.

There are some notable omissions—if the device is positioned as a great Web-browsing device, the lack of flash support is a problem, especially with video-streaming fans. While Apple may be moving to HTML5, Adobe's Flash is going to be around for a long time. Multitasking would have been nice.

There is no camera—the device seems a natural for video chat—but then again we don't have iChat on the iPhone. However, the camera is an essential tool to bring together the physical and digital worlds. Augmented reality and digital overlays can greatly enhance a users experience. Given that Apple has pushed video cameras in the desktops, laptops, and in the iPhone (but not iTouch), the lack of this feature is really surprising. Maybe it's just as well Apple is positioning the product as environmentally friendly and recyclable as I have a suspicion that, as with the iPhone, I could be upgrading each year.

Given that I carry around an iPhone all the time, having a tethering option for the iPad or laptop would be welcome rather than having to sign up for another data plan.

The virtual keyboard is thankfully enhanced by physical keyboard options—either dockable or via Bluetooth. However, the iPad does not support Apple's Bluetooth mouse, so extended activity within iWork may be problematic. While it was good to see the iWork applications, the target audience release of iPad iLife applications would have been more appropriate—but expect them to appear relatively soon after launch.