By the time Apple made its formal unveiling today of the iPad, the only real surprise was the price point.  (Jobs’ presentation is worth watching.)

I’ll admit, I was shocked (and I’m not alone) about the price point. Starting at $499 for the base 16GB unit is about $200 less than I expected. The 32GB will run $599, and $699 for the 64GB. Adding 3G costs a $130 per model, so the most expensive model (64GB / 3G) is $829. The WiFi-only model will ship in 60 days, and the 3G models will come in 90 days.

There was so much speculation the last few months about an Apple tablet and the anticipated features (most of which were right).  And in the last few days factual nuggets leaked like those from McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw.

So now it’s official.  The iPad is born.

And the name calling jokes have begun.  These tweets gave me a chuckle:

@twifftwin: the iPad sounds like a feminine hygiene product for robot ladies.

@KristinaWeise: The #iPad – too easy to insert a woman’s comment here. “Much more intimate than a laptop and more capable than a smart phone,” Jobs said.

We may get a laugh now from the name puns, but my bets are on Apple for the last laugh.  Combine a surprisingly low launch price with Apple’s marketing savvy…

Look out Kindle.

Oh…and BTW Apple is using the ePub format for iBooks.  That could change the game in that category. See previous post.

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