Today's significant announcement by Apple of the iPad is already being pronounced as a larger iPhone, a smaller MacBook and a rangier iPod.

The 9.7-inch screen weighs 1.5 pounds and is a half-inch thick. Its supposed battery power is 10 hours, with one month on standby, and it can play HD. It has Wi-Fi, comes in a 3G version, and has a U.S. deal with AT & T on data storage. International Wi-Fi versions will be ready in 60 days.

The price tag is lower than expected: $499. 

It seems particularly suited to video, but The New York Times has unveiled its partnership this morning with it to emulate the newspaper reading experience.

There's a major league baseball video application on the way. And it has introduced iBooks as an e-reading technology. It has developed iWork for it and has access to the educational market.

Alan Mutter on Reflections of a Newsosaur has some instant prescription for the industry on how to work with the device.

Engadget kept a very strong running comme

ReadWriteWeb looks at an element of the Hearst company's introduction of the Skiff e-reader and notes a slight difference in its ambitions.

For one, Hearst is betting on people printing out stories and has cemented a deal with a company over it.

It has been said that even Bill Gates prints out a document longer than two screens. Hearst suggests about one-half of one per cent of readers do so --- one in 200. But there's a business model in there; once the formatting is done, print ads are added to the mix.

The Digitimes technology site is reporting that Apple's much-anticipated new tablet will have to be much-anticipated much longer. Its March release is now more likely to be pushed back to the second half of 2010.

And the price tag is taking some shape: about $1200-1500 U.S., which is a slight cry from the earlier notions of an iPod-priced, iMac-powerful device.

The indications are there will be two versions, one with a 9.7-inch screen and one with a 10.6-inch screen. The device is Apple's entry into the e-reader market, and given its shrewd marketing history, it is expected the company's thrust could be a game changer.