Many years ago I heard a talk by Alan Kay, a pioneer of personal computing and a true visionary.
He was one of the best presenters I've ever heard and influenced my approach to speaking to audiences, ever since that time.
He had a dream: a lightweight, sturdy computer, with no separate keyboard, no need to be plugged in all the time, that you could take anywhere, would let you communicate wirelessly with anyone, anytime, access all human knowledge, and read any book, right there on the screen, which would be oh let's say A4-ish.
So is the iPad the realisation of Alan Kay's dream? Well I think comes pretty close.