iPad release

CUPERTINO, Calif., April 2 (UPI) -- A device Apple Chairman Steve Jobs called "magical" reaches the hands of the public this weekend with the formal release of the iPad.

Of course, Jobs' opinion is more than a little biased -- Apple wouldn't release a new product without winning over Jobs first -- but the device has received strong reviews. Xeni Jardin, blogging at Boing Boing, says the iPad "hits a completely new pleasure spot."

Jobs showed off the device in January, saying, "We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product." He said the idea was to create a device between a laptop computer and smartphone.

It has only been recently that more objective reviewers got the machines. And, judging from a quick scan of comments, they seem to like it. As with Jardin, the very feel of the iPad is said to be something very different.

It is expected the iPad, which is roughly the same dimensions of traditional paper magazines and weighs about 1.5 pounds, will be mostly used for Internet browsing and some gaming but it could tap into the e-book market of devices such as Amazon's Kindle.

The iPad will go on sale Saturday with prices ranging from $499-$699, with more for devices with wireless data access and, of course, there will be monthly costs to a 3G service provider to get to that data.

There are estimates that Apple will sell more than 500,000 iPads by July and about 5 million over the next two fiscal years.