Apple iPad
Launched: April 2010
Launch price: $499 for 16GB Wi-Fi to $829 for 64GB Wi-Fi 3G
Current price: Same
Love it or loathe it, the iPad is here to stay. The long-awaited answer to the "when will Apple make a tablet computer?" question has become a game-changer for both e-books and other forms of digital media.
When it launched in April, the media hailed the iPad as a potential savior -- the device that would make newspapers and magazines profitable again. Publishers from Condé Nast to the Wall Street Journal are scurrying to optimize for the iPad, and e-book-lovers have their pick of apps from Apple's own iBooks to B&N's eReader, a Kindle app, and others.
"The Apple iPad is the first affordable tablet computer worth owning," CNET.com wrote about the device -- even though the lack of an integrated video camera and Flash support annoyed some users. Techies found it to be absurdly large and lacking in features, but those who were fine with the idea of a "giant iPod Touch," as New York Times reviewer David Pogue called the iPad, liked it just fine.
NEXT: A dark horse
