Apple’s new iPad device was finally unveiled yesterday, Wed Jan, 27th, 2010. My initial reaction was one of disappointment. I suppose it was due to all of the hype that was built up leading up to the launch. Many people had speculated on not only it’s form factor, but also it’s software interface.

I can accept the form factor. It looks like an Apple product. My only complaint is with the choice to not include a built in camera for taking pictures, video and chat. Other than that, I really like the design. I particularly impressed that there are no additional hardware buttons other than the typical round home button. Speaker and volume switches are nice to have too. I also like the border around the screen to allow for holding with your thumbs.

As for the main interface software, I am highly disappointed. I literally laughed out loud at The Onion’s article, “Frantic Steve Jobs Stays Up All Night Designing Apple Tablet“. I’m all for simplicity, but come on. In addition to all of the complaints that they didn’t include background apps, why oh why couldn’t you have spent some time redesigning the main interface. It looks like a sophomore design class project. No thought, no originality, no empathy for the user or context of use….just a scaled up version of the iPhone. It seems odd and like something is missing. Why not a widget that runs on the main screen to show the weather in real time, or the stock widget showing realtime stock quotes? This just puzzles me to no end. I’m not asking for a complete redesign, but at least some innovation and advancement.

All that being said, I do see a need for a device like this and can’t wait to see what software developers come up with, given the larger screen size. This is what really excites me and why I will likely purchase this device. In my opinion, this guy came the closest to what I was expecting from Apple…Lex Lareo.

Fingers crossed that Apple will address these.