Look, Apple's goal is to produce a unit that has the best fit & finish possible. They sell on whole product rather than individual features, which makes them not only successful, but also industry leaders. They make, and others follow–thus it has been with the original Mac OS, the ipod, iphone, and now the ipad. Plenty of people won't buy this new device for its lack of x y or z feature, but Apple, like any company, doesn't need to please everyone, only enough people to keep Apple profitable.
This ipad will sell like hotcakes, and so will the accessories and applications. Amd music, moveis, tv shows, and now books. That's the business model–even if they don't make a huge profit on each device, they will make a percentage on ALL media sold through it. And that's one of the reasons it's a 'walled garden', why there's no sd card slot, or anything else. They are willing to lose that segment of the market for the profitability that comes with a closed system. Is it the best situation? No. Don't you wish all lenses worked on all cameras? Wouldn't that be great? Sure... but this is the market, and Apple is the one putting the time, money, and effort into creating really great user experiences. It's as simple as that. Everyone else is now playing catch-up.
And wrt the flash thing. See the linked article in my earlier post. Really, Apple will never allow flash on the ipad or iphone because they won't take the performance hit. They need the brand to be great, the public perception that the device works well. They won't give that up to Adobe, ever. Flash crashes my mac browser often enough...! And, by not allowing flash, Apple disallows free video from many providers, and encourages more purchases through itunes. It's really a win-win for them. And if flash dies as a result, and is replaced by open standards, the web will be a better place. The process might be annoying, is all.
