Apple produced one of the first tablets - the Newton - which it dropped while it restructured. The fact that the tablets that already existed have not been popular indicate that it requires a sophisticated blend of good hardware and software including an intuitive (try an iPad on any toddler) interface and painless app installation that has led to the iPad's popularity.
Yes a tablet is not new, a computer is not new, house bricks are not new - but a good product is more than the sum of its elemental pieces. The iPad is not a good design just in the superficial visible sense - but a great design in all senses of the word. It is not perfect but show me a worthy competitor!
My young kids have shown me how easy the iOS interface on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad for the non-expert to use. No keyboard to get in the way (unless you want and need it). In fact, though my son has had some exposure to computers with a keyboard/mouse dumb-screen WIMP interface, he has been most skilled in using the iOS touch screen operating system even at the age of two. Now that he is three and a half, he is becoming quite skilled, even though I ration the usage of the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad; there are other fun things for him to do and learn - running, jumping, singing, craft and drawing for just a few.
In fact, when I took him into my office the other week, he took one look at my brand new Quad Core iMac i5 with a 27" screen and said: "Wow what a big iPad!" The design heritage of the iMac was clearly related to the iPad to him as it is to the Apple designers. I also think he thinks the iPad is so cool as it has more screen space than an iPhone/iPod touch that a bigger one must be even better - because his eyes lit up at the sight!
However, especially in the context of kids and education, size is indeed an issue. Bigger is not always better. For some uses the iPad is too large and (dare I say) too heavy. I think it would be generally useful, to have another iPad-like device , which is lighter and perhaps in-between in screen size - perhaps half size - 5" on the diagonal say (give or take an inch) - with the same aspect ratio as the iPad to keep app design compatibility. Of course if a iPad mini was a good deal lighter/thinner than the iPad a screen size of up to 7" might be OK too. Ideal for kids and a compact version of the iPad: iPad mini might sound more compelling and descriptive (the iPod touch would effectively be an iPad nano!). It would be ideal in the education field but I can think of many other uses for the iPad in a mini form factor! I hope the iPad mini is more than just a rumour!
