Apple tablet sets Twitter abuzz

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After the debut of the iPad, Twitter was on fire with praise, criticism, and jokes about the device's name.

The curtain went up at Apple's 'latest creation' event at 1 p.m. ET at an invite-only gathering in San Francisco, but bloggers and other Apple fans had been speculating for months about what chief executive Steve Jobs would unveil.

What he debuted was a 1.5-lb device that's a half-inch thick, with a 9.7-inch screen. The iPad runs apps from the iTunes store and is available in 16-gigabyte and 64-gigabyte versions. Battery life is estimated at a cool 10 hours.

Users were tweeting about the details of the device as Jobs announced them. Others retweeted articles from tech blogs.

But the conversation devolved quickly into jokes about the iPad's name, as "iTampon" became the No. 2 topic on Twitter.

One user posted: "watching #ipad and #itampon rage as top twitter trending topics there is some woman at Apple HQ thinking, 'I told you so!'"

Another splash came earlier in the day thanks to well-known tech exec and blogger Jason Calacanis, who set off a firestorm when he claimed via Twitter that he has been testing the iPad. He tweeted what he said were details about the device's capabilities, including fingerprint security and a solar pad. But when the iPad was revealed, it had none of these features.

Not to be outdone by the tech pundits, satirical news site The Onion tweeted about "Frantic Steve Jobs Stays Up All Night Designing Apple Tablet," an amusing send-up that's been retweeted by thousands of Twitter users.

Plenty of other people were poking fun of the hype with tweets like this one: "BREAKING: Apple tablet to feature screen made of real Unicorn horn & powered by magic holy kisses of Christ."

On Monday, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) reported record earnings for its first fiscal quarter of 2010, with double the iPhone sales and net income up almost 50%.