The iPad is here. Well, almost.

Boy, did this thing take an age to come out.

The general concensus is not overly positive. It seems to fall into a gap between the iPhone / iPod Touch and the laptop. As a result, it can’t do phone things, and it’s too darned big to fit into a pocket; and there’s several omissions, which make its use as a laptop replacement questionable at best.

But here’s the thing. It’s an Apple. It’s got the Steve-meister fully behind it. And that means the i-Marketing teams are going to go all out to convince us that this is the product we want to buy. Not because it makes sense by any traditional measure. But because we’ll just want the thing.

It has an iBook store attached to it, which is good. The price of the i/eBooks is going to be $14.99. Which is bad. But this can change, as can the price (although at $499 is a good deal less than many were expecting). As can the specs, which will surely improve.

What remains to be seen is if Steve Jobs and Apple can pull off the marketing coup of the decade - to convince enough people that they want this thing to create a critical mass; once your mates have one, then you’re going to have to have one. And who wouldn’t bet against Apple?