[anigbrowl]

I'm guessing that your smartphone probably comes cheap but locks you into an expensive service contract. Not that this obviates your point, but it modifies it. For that matter, the iPhone was very expensive at launch compared to now; I thought that would kill it straight out of the gate, and boy was I wrong. Similarly, I doubt your smartphone has such a large screen - perhaps an advantage when you're on the move (this tablet won't fit in your pocket) but more desirable when sitting down.

I'm a little perplexed at how this device seems to generate such strong opinions and armchair quarterbacking. It seems to me that there is a lot of pent-up demand for a decent-sized tablet but people have been disappointed so many times they're a bit paranoid about it.

[wvenable]

My smartphone contract isn't ridiculously expensive -- and lets face it, if you've got an Internet tablet you're still going to need that service contract to get connectivity.

The small screen is an advantage when on the move. The small footprint as well -- it's pretty hard to even remove a large device from your bag while standing on transit. If I can sit, I can use my netbook.

I work an web startup that provides business software for users who are typically not at their desks. An affordable tablet would be a huge boon for us -- we could distribute them to our users (or just recommend them) and they would love it. But at this price it won't work for us. I fully expect that Chrome OS is built entirely for this market and we'll see a lot of tablets from netbook manufacturers next year.