As most of you know already. Apple unveiled its much hyped and rumored iPad tablet computer today. Some say that this is a monumental event in history. This without doubt is an extremely important event for Apple and the consumer electronics world. The question is. Why exactly is it important?

About a month ago in late December, MG Siegler from TechCrunch wrote a good piece about the tablet. He argued that Apple was at the cusp of a major change in their product lineup and that the market was ripe for a revolutionary tablet device. He pointed out how similar the tech world was right up to the launch of the iPhone. Phones back then basically sucked and all the buzz was about a rumored smartphone from Apple. And then the iPhone came along. It changed what we do with our phones and added a new cell phone form factor that has quickly become the hottest. Certainly the iPhone changed mobile phones and mobile computing at least as much as the original Macintosh changed personal computing. Is the iPad the iPhone of the tablet world?

The tablets up to the launch of the iPad were clunky, hard to use and awkward. Ebook readers like the Kindle and Nook use slow E-ink displays. They are not too bad for reading books, but don’t compare to the true experience of a book that you can flip through. Other tablets were just netbooks without keyboards, another confusing product segment. So in this sense, the iPad situation is just like the iPhone’s and iPod’s. A new device comes in to meet a market of crap devices. But this is where the analogy stops. The thing that MG Siegler and most of the tech community have forgotten is that the iPod fixed a discrete and well-defined market, the MP3 player market. The iPhone fixed the cell phone market. What about the iPad?

The tablet market, since its inception has been sort of an awkward child. It doesn’t really know if it should/can roll with the older, bigger guys or the smaller, faster guys. It, like the netbook is stuck in-between two distinct segments. Even look at Apple’s product line up or the menu on their website.

Is the iPad a bigger, more powerful iPod touch? It runs iPhone apps natively, but it also runs some of Apple’s desktop software. Then is it a smaller, more portable MacBook? I’m curious where Apple will put it.

I think that if the iPad is to succeed and truly become the “revolutionary device” it is supposed to be, it needs to define the poorly defined tablet market. It needs to convince me why I shouldn’t just get a smaller, more portable iPod touch or a larger, more powerful MacBook. It also needs fully capitalize on the potential it has. Its large multi-touch screen affords the capability for interactivity never before seen. The iBooks store (Apple’s new eBook store) and Apple’s history of having very close connections with content providers could further propel eBooks into ubiquity. It could also be the key to saving traditional print media.

I also forgot the stakes. 10 years of hype and almost rabid craze up its launch set the bar for success much higher. Therefore, the iPad has quite a bit cut out for it. Can it provide? We will have to see.

To answer my original question, the iPad is important because it is really a pivotal device. It has the potential to change the world and make Apple even more powerful. If Apple can pull it off, the rewards will be massive. If not, it could go down in history as the Newton 2, yet another failed touchscreen device.

One thing is certain. I really wish I could trade my Kindle 2 in for one of these.