If you've been hiding under a rock to keep away from the Internet today, you may have missed the announcement of the Apple iPad. This is essentially a giant iPod Touch with more hard disk space.
While I focus most of my gaming discussion towards console gaming, my iPod Touch has beat out my Nintendo DS as my portable gaming platform of choice. Not necessarily because it's a better gaming platform, but the iPod Touch totally trumps the DS in terms of functionality. With my iPod, I may have the weaker game machine, but in exchange I basically have the functionality of a computer in my pocket. There's no way I leave the house without it because of that. It also doesn't hurt that it has some fun stuff to play on the go, such as Peggle, Drop 7 and Rock Band.
To bring this back around, the Apple iPad really is just a giant iPod Touch. All iPod Touch and iPhone apps will crossover to the new iPad with little to no problem on the user's end. As a gaming platform, I think having the bigger screen and processing power will lend itself towards prettier-looking games. Do I see it being a profoundly different gaming experience than the Touch? No. Without any changes to the core interface, games will have the same strengths and weaknesses they always did on that platform. A keyboard attachment has been announced, but I don't see many (if any) developers requiring users to have one in order to play their games with it.
What it does lose in the translation though is the portability. While an iPad is a bit better on space than a laptop, I can't fit an iPad in my pocket. As someone that doesn't like to carry bags and will rely on pants pockets for everything I need, the form factor for an iPad is a potential deal-breaker.
For me specifically, I have a hard time rationally justifying owning a "tweener" machine between an iPod Touch and my Macbook at the cost of between $500-800+. With that said, the nerd in me wants one of these iPad's bad for no other reason than the fact that it's cool looking Apple technology. Maybe I can find half a G-note in my bank account to throw down on the cheap one? Damn it Apple, get out of my brain!