Behold the iPad

After months of breathless anticipation, techies everywhere have a new gadget/cultural phenomenon on their hands in the form of Apple Inc.’s new tablet, the iPad. Apple CEO Steve Jobs was on hand to do the unveiling honors at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Wednesday morning, and based on the results, you can bet the lines will be forming in front of Apple stores yet again.

Click here to read play-by-play updates from Engadget’s coverage of the iPad event.

Los Angeles Times:

Perhaps the worst kept secret since, well, the iPhone, the iPad is a 10-inch touch-screen computer. It resembles an oversized iPod Touch.

“We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary new product,” Jobs said early on to ease the throngs of technology journalists and analysts who knew what was coming.

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Wikimedia Commons / The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei

This isn’t exactly what the iPad looks like, but the hype surrounding Apple’s tablet drew similar comparisons.