Just days after the first unveiling of Apple’s iPad, some of the big players in the entertainment and mobile industry have thrown in their 2 cents worth on the device.

Satura Iwata, president and CEO of Nintendo, criticized the iPad. He called the iPad “just a bigger iPod Touch”. He also stabbed Apple for not delivering anything new or innovative – after all, the iPad is just a combination of a tablet, an iPod and an ebook reader. This especially rings true as the iPad runs the same operating system as the iPhone, and is a lot less functional when compared to a laptop despite its decent specs.

Also in the gaming industry, Sega seemed very interested in the iPad, citing that such a technology can have a huge impact in the context of gaming possibilities. They were immensely successful with their Super Monkey Ball on the iPhone and is not about to let similar opportunities slip through their fingers.

Another major iPhone games developer, Tapulous, popular for their Tap Tap Revenge game, believes that the iPad will build upon the success of the iPod and iPhone. CEO Bart Decrem foresees the increasing presence of the iPhone OS in mobile devices and that it may be a start of a big shift towards mobile gaming on the operating system.

Bolt Creative, on the other hand, have a different opinion altogether. Despite having the best selling paid iPhone app on the market to date (Pocket God), they’ve expressed their disappointment on the device. They claimed that the multi-touch still have problems that prevented it from becoming a more robust gaming platform and that the iPad will most likely not have as big an impact on the gaming industry as the iPhone did.

Nokia too, had a problem with the iPad. Or to be more precise, Mark Squires, the head of Nokia’s Social Media was taken aback when he heard that Apple had claimed to be the biggest manufacturer of mobile devices. The current accepted usage for mobile devices does not include laptop and netbook, which was calculated in by Apple when they made the bold claim. In reality, Nokia still holds the title and no one is coming close at second at the moment.

Russ Wilcox, CEO of E-Ink, commented that dedicated e-readers will outsell the iPad, simply because there are many other readers out there that can outperform the iPad in its task.

Netflix did not really provide any direct comment relating to the iPad, saying that it’s not their priorities to bring their services to mobile devices yet. However, he did mention that they were looking forward to releasing an app for the iPhone. And if iPhone can run it, so can iPad.

The iPad was generally received well by most, especially in the gaming industry. However, it doesn’t seem to favour well with the rest. Just how well will the iPad perform?

We’ll have to find out come launch day…

The long wait is finally over. After 8 years of rumors and speculations, Apple has finally opened the floodgates and announced the arrival of the Apple iPad.

Just how good is the Apple iPad, anyway?

Was the patient wait in vain, or are we being treated to yet another innovative product from the great Apple?

Most people would think that it’s a giant iPhone or iPod Touch, and they’re not wrong either. The design is almost identical except for the fact that it’s, well… BIGGER?

Other than the design, the look and feel of the operating system would be strangely familiar for iPhone and iPod owners. This is no surprise especially since the iPad is actually running on iPhone OS 3.2. Yup, that’s right. This doesn’t just look like a giant iPhone, it even runs on the same system!

That means anything you can run on your iPhone and iPod, you can run it here. Unfortunately, that also means no multitasking and no Flash capabilities. This is really a letdown, seeing it’s running on a 1GHz Apple A4 custom processor.

Everything runs incredibly fast due to the powerful yet underutilized processor on its gorgeous 1024 x 768 pixel resolution on a 9.7 inch screen. As expected of Apple, they made good use of their touch technology, although the virtual keyboard could have been made much more responsive.

The iPad will come in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB flash drives. It’s estimated to have a 10 hour battery life when used to surf the net, play music and watch videos. This is truly very impressive and perfect for those always on the go and do not have the luxury of having a place to plug in their charger wherever they go.

One very interesting implementation on the iPad is its ebook reader. This is possibly the closest thing you will get to reading a book without actually having the book in your hands. The combination of touch screen and page flipping animations makes reading an ebook on the iPad a unique experience not found elsewhere.

With the inclusion of the iBookstore, you will be sure to find plenty of ebooks to download and enjoy.

There has been an increase in the demand for portable ebook readers that allows you to carry it around and reading it like you would a normal book. Amazon had come up with their Kindle reader with moderate success. But Apple looks to dominate this market with their iPad and iBookstore. Unlike Amazon, Apple looks towards giving their users the experience – a common theme in all their products which have given them an extremely high level of success.

The iPad is set to be sold at $499-$699 and its 3G capable unit starting at $629-$829. The higher end 3G model is rather pricy, considering that a much more powerful Macbook costs $999. 

So the ultimate question comes down to this: is it worth getting an iPad?

It’s a rather tough question to answer, but if you’re always on the move and wish you had a bigger iPhone with you, then definitely get the iPad when it finally gets shipped to stores in March.