Steve Jobs took the stage in San Francisco today to announce what he referred to as a "magical, truly revolutionary product."

After talking up Apple’s history and how many iPods they’ve sold and apps they have in the app store, Jobs began talking about the need for a product between the laptop and the smartphone – something that would be better at things like browsing, email, photos, video, music, games, and eBooks. He took a shot at netbooks saying they weren’t better than anything (knocking their speed, displays, and software), and then unveiled the iPad.

It looks generally like a taller, wider version of the iPhone. It can be turned anyway to view a page. He showed off what the New York Times looked like on it. It almost looks like a full-color newspaper.

The keyboard displays on the touch screen. The iTunes store is bult in, and has a screen ideal for watching movies. It will run all iPhone apps and have its own. There is a new software developer kit available.

Specs:

– Dimensions: .5 inches thin, 1.5 pounds — 9.7 inch IPS display 

– The device has 10 hours of battery life according to Jobs. (one month stand-by time)

– 1GHz Apple A4 chip, stockage flash 16-64GB , Wifi 802.11n, bluetooth

– Accelerometer & Compass, Speaker, Microphone, 30-pin conect

– Use GSM microSIMs

The iPad syncs over USB like the iPhone/iPod. Every iPad has Wi-Fi, but some models will have 3G. Data plans: one plan 250MB of data a month for $14.99 and unlimited for $29.99 a month (free use of AT&T hot spots). There’s no contract. It’s pre-paid, and you can activate it right from the device. Jobs says they’re hoping for international deals to be in place in the summer.

Pricing starts at $499. That’s for the 16GB version. The 32GB and 64GB versions are $599 and $699 respectively.

Apple will be shipping the device in 60 days. 3G models will ship in 90.

It’s amazing how much criticism the iPad is facing on Twitter even before the announcement is over. A lot of people are making jokes about the name (and maxi pad commercials).

The full press release is now available here.

Sidenote: There’s already a dashboard widget for Mac OS X on Apple’s site called the iPad.