Apple didn't actually need to release an iPad to stay on top of the tablet game. The company dominates the tablet market; its top competitor, Google, has been doing a notoriously poor job of cultivating third-party apps for its tablets, and Microsoft doesn't have a tablet product on the market quite yet.
But that said, the tablet Apple did release is gorgeous. Competing tablets don't have apps, but at least they're looking to have great hardware. Apple just slapped down industry-leading hardware along with an app ecosystem far better than anyone else can offer. I spent about half an hour with various new iPads after the announcement.
The Wi-Fi model of the new iPad looks and feels almost exactly like an iPad 2: same shape, same back, same finish, same black and white colors, same Home button. It's ever-so-slightly thicker—.37 inch compared with .34 inch—but that's not something you can notice unless you're also holding an iPad 2.
The screen is extraordinary. The iPad 2 has a bright screen, but images are a little jaggy. The 2,048-by-1,536 Retina Display is super-sharp, and colors pop. Web pages look delicious. The sharpness doesn't just appear in Retina-enabled apps, because all standard system controls take advantage of the new screen.
