Yeah, the Wired article definitely helped clear up the big technology end of the question -- just not necessarily the consumer end. From what I've seen in reviews of the iPad, it's not as good an e-book reader as dedicated e-book readers, and it's not as good a computer as an iMac or Netbook. In which case... why bother?

There are about 15 different e-book readers (according to one of those articles I linked to) that use the e-ink display, and again, that was the factor that convinced me that a dedicated reader was a worthwhile device. If I could read e-books as comfortably on my Netbook, I wouldn't have bothered to buy one. But I can't -- and honestly, the switch to a focus on back-lit color displays worries me a bit, because I'm afraid it means they won't finish pursuing the color e-ink. *sigh*