After waiting several months for Steve Jobs to reveal the tablet that we all knew was coming, yet knew so little about, we finally had all of our questions answered Wednesday when he revealed the iPad to a packed house in San Francisco. The device, which Jobs remarked to be, “so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smart phone,” is .5 inches thick, weighs 1.5 lb. and has a 9.7 inch screen. Essentially, an iPhone on steroids.

Now, while the name of the device quickly drew quips and parodies around the internet, the biggest news seemed to be pricing, which came in well below Wall St. expectations. Leading up to the release, it was thought that the secret tablet could be a $1000 item, but Jobs made a splash when he announced that the iPad would be starting at $499. This expenditure will net you an iPad with 16GB of flash memory and WiFi capabilities, but, alas, no 3G access. It’ll take $629 to get 3G coverage on the 16GB, and this trend continues all the way up to a 64GB, 3G enabled model for $829. Oh, and don’t expect to free-ride on that wonderful (read: terrible) AT&T 3G service. Rather, you will select from a $14.99 or $29.99 monthly plan, the latter of which gets you unlimited data transfer.

The real question is where the iPad fits into one’s tech repertoire. Besides the obvious gushing that will occur over the release of any new product from Apple, for the iPad to hit the company’s bottom-line, Apple will need to convince more than just the early adopters that they need this device. Is it a Kindle-killer? Maybe. But the comparable $489 Kindle DX comes with free, unlimited 3G service, and the lesser Kindle retails for $259, and for the first time is beginning to seem like a relative bargain. Of course, the iPad can do a great deal that the Kindle cannot, but one wonders whether the increased functionality will indeed lure a pure e-reader customer away from Amazon.

In the end, the failure or success of the iPad will likely rest not on what we know it is as now, but what it becomes. Or rather, what Steve Jobs can turn it into. As time progresses, so will the iPad (and hopefully the name), and once we see what the 2nd and 3rd generation iPad’s can do, it indeed may become the life-altering device that the Apple guru insists it is. Sure, there will be hurdles. For one, the iPad, like the iPhone, cannot run multiple app’s at once. While this is typically fine for a phone, the same may not be so for a device that is supposed to be a quasi-computer. It also can’t be a great sign that a person like myself, who is typically an early adopter of anything with an Apple imprint on it, is struggling to find reasons to justify having a laptop, netbook and iPad running at the same time in my small (cozy? sun-filled?) NYC apartment.

But, for all of the above, Apple does have one big thing in it’s favor. What is that, you may ask? Well, for some reason, even though I can’t think of a single truly practical use for this new device, and can certainly think of more intelligent ways to burn through $500, I want an iPad, and I want it now.