Apple, unfortunately, has always had a problem of being stuck on itself.  They make very strange decisions, sometimes come up with really great ideas, and then manage to completely aggravate their user base.  I look at what happened with the iPhone.  They got all the early adopters at a huge price, then cut the price in half.  That's a way to make a lot of people very unhappy.  They really are a strange company.  I could understand scaling the thing up, but why would you remove functionality?  Oh wait... that's right, Apple likes to nail people with new models every six months, so you can bet the camera will be in the next one after everyone's already gone broke on the first model. 

Regarding the iPad, that was my first impression when I saw it as well.  It looks like an iPhone version of one of those telephones with the huge buttons for people with really poor eyesight.  I'm not one with much use for expensive tablet PC's and communications gadgets, so I can't say much about how useful it would be compared to the iPhone.  My talons would punch a hole right through that sort of thing anyway if I tried to use one. 

A business practice recently adopted by Nintendo with the DS, I might add.

I'm not a big fan of touch screens, either. Ever tried to play a game with a "virtual joypad"? It's like trying to wire a plug while wearing boxing gloves. It's only ever gonna end in tears. Who was it who said that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should?

As far as daft decisions go, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple tried entering the console market within the next few years.