你是否对苹果IPad一见钟情?

Finally tonight a new product launch. The last time there was this much fuss over a tablet, well, it was a long time ago. Today Apple came out with its new half inch thick electronic tablet, a kind of giant iPod touch called the iPad. Critics immediately compare the name to a line of products for women and they picked apart a few other features alike of them, but for tech fans and a lot of regular folks, Apple might once again have landed on the next big thing. Our report on the unveiling from NBC’s George Lewis in San Francisco:

Steve Jobs is a master of this, letting the anticipation build and then the big announcement.

“And we’d like to show it to you today for the first time. And we call it the iPad. ”

The iPad with its 9.7 inch touch screen and a starting price of 499, will let users surf the web, do email, watch video, organize photos, listen to music, read newspapers, magazines and books, and games.

Steve Jobs talks about people being able to hold the internet in their hands, and he says anybody who’s used the iPhone or an iPod touch knows how to use this device already.

Major publications from the New York Times to Sports Illustrated are developing new media applications for the iPad.

“Well, people have to pay for this content?”

“Absolutely, it’s valuable; this is very valuable content. The possibilities, you know, are almost endless, it’s intuitive and our stuff just looks so great.”     

But as tech reviewers at today’s unveiling twittered about the iPad, it was getting mixed reviews

“The software that I saw, I wish, I expect a little more, frankly, expect a little more innovation from a company that’s been so creative with user interfaces over the years.”

At Abilene Christian University in Texas were students already do class work on iPhones. The school now plans to embrace the iPad.

“The true electronic book is going to be as transformational a moment for culture as the printed book when Gutenberg first introduced it.”

“We hope you love the iPad as much as we do.”

And while everybody may not love it as much as Steve Jobs, there are expected to be long lines when it hit stores in two months.

George Lewis, NBC news, San Francisco.