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The iPad is Apple's newest iStar. That's the way it seems at first blush, anyway. The tablet computer that CEO Steve Jobs unveiled Wednesday is the machine that Apple's most loyal patrons have been pining for. It's light (under 1.5 pounds), slim (0.5 inches thick) and beautiful.
The slab lets you surf the Web, play games, watch high-definition movies, listen to music, dispatch and receive e-mail and read electronic books and newspapers. And with color pictures and video, the iPad certainly out-Kindles the Amazon Kindle, the current king of the burgeoning e-reader market. Of course, Apple's device is a lot more versatile and more expensive than the single-purpose $259 Kindle.

As for price, Apple delivered its ballyhooed tablet at lower sums than most expected: $499 for a 16-gigabyte Wi-Fi-only model, $599 for 32 GB and $699 for 64 GB. Add 3G wireless access, and prices climb to $629, $729 and $829, respectively, not outrageous, but still a hit for folks in this economy. Monthly cellular data plans through AT&T are priced aggressively: $14.99 (for up to 250 megabytes) or $29.99 for unlimited data. Jobs says most people will get by on the cheaper plan. I'm not so sure.

The iPad without 3G is due out in 60 days; models with cellular arrive about a month later.