"Then why in gawds name would anyone want to get an iPad as an ebook reader?"
people want the ipad for _lots_ of uses... not just as an e-book reader-machine... the fact that they get an e-book machine thrown in, for free, is icing on the cake... (and many of these users don't even read, which means they don't like cake or icing.) which reminds me... remember back in the day, when one of the most cherished merry-go-round topics on every e-book listserve was whether people would want a _dedicated_ e-book machine or a _multipurpose_ one? gosh, how many pleasant afternoons were spent composing posts on that dependable hobby-horse topic? well, folks, the winner has now been decided. amazon offered up a good dedicated machine. and they've moved about 3 million units so far. and they probably coulda moved twice as many if they would have fixed the obvious problems. throw in all the nooks and sonys, and we've got a downright respectable total for _dedicated_... but, on the other hand, however, we have apple. the iphone/ipodtouch has sold 80 million so far. and the ipad moved 300,000 units on pre-order and first-weekend sales alone, if we trust apple. and the 3g model i await isn't even available yet. so now we know... people prefer multi-purpose... the winner has been declared. which is not to say that all you people with a kindle must send it back. if you're happy with it, that's all that matters, really. -bowerbird