Steve Jobs took the stage in San Francisco today to announce what he referred to as a "magical, truly revolutionary product."

After talking up Apple's history and how many iPods they've sold and apps they have in the app store, Jobs began talking about the need for a product between the laptop and the smartphone - something that would be better at things like browsing, email, photos, video, music, games, and eBooks. He took a shot at netbooks saying they weren't better than anything (knocking their speed, displays, and software), and then unveiled the iPad.

It looks generally like a taller, wider version of the iPhone. It can be turned anyway to view a page. He showed off what the New York Times looked like on it. It almost looks like a full-color newspaper.

The keyboard displays on the touch screen. The iTunes store is bult in, and has a screen ideal for watching movies. It will run all iPhone apps.

Videos of the presentation are already pouring into YouTube:

Specs:

- Dimensions: 5 inches thin, 1.5 pounds -- 9.7 inch IPS display

- The device has 10 hours of battery life according to Jobs. (one month stand-by time)

- 1GHz Apple A4 chip, stockage flash 16-64GB , Wifi 802.11n, bluetooth

- Accelerometer & Compass, Speaker, Microphone, 30-pin conect

There is apparently a new software developer kit available for the iPad.

The presentation is still in progress (much of it is just the demonstration of different apps, which will cost $10 a piece). Lots of pictures can be seen here. More details to come.

It's amazing how much criticism the iPad is facing on Twitter even before the announcement is over. A lot of people are making jokes about the name (and maxi pad commercials). Criticisms include a lack of camera, wirless sync, and 3G.

Sidenote: There's already a dashboard widget for Mac OS X on Apple's site called the iPad.