I saw the 'BUK or BUC or NUC' today, the Barnes and Noble device. I couldnt believe how nice it was. I was very impressed, by how it had things from a web navigator to games to books to other things in it. But most impressive was the price. Very affordable. The iPad is about the price of a very high end laptop if you get the 3G with max HD space. Thats about 1,000 USD. The NUC (what ever it is called) is from $144.00 to $244.00. Brilliant!
Also, the HTC Windows7 phone just released, and I havent been more perplexed and amazed and fascinated by a window OS system since Apple. The animations are uncomprehensible to explain... Bottom line, brilliant! (again).. (thus, if it has an eBook system in it, you could get that as well).
I love my iPad. I use it for so many things. It really is a giant iPod, but its like a small laptop without the keyboard, 'instant-on', and fast, no stuttering or stalling, and I am reading a book by Joel Osteen in it, with options like bookmark, highlighter, notes, etc, and I am captivated, by the book of course. (I read it on the treadmill).
You also have like 5,000 or 7,000 apps that will run on it, about 1/3rd of those are freeware, (reminds me of FS9).
Difficult call. The NUC stuttered when I was checking it out. The new HTC Win7 phone made me druel on myself, and embarrassed me tremendously by going mute for perhaps 5 min's as I played with the control panel, mumbling incoherently...
Anyways, may you make the best decision possible and may it make you happy for many years.
Bill