In my personal opinion, Adobe is doing a tremendous disservice to the publishing industry by encouraging these ineptly literal translations of print publications into iPad apps. They’ve fostered a preoccupation with the sort of monolithic, overbearing apps represented by The New Yorker, Wired and Popular Science. Meanwhile, what publishers should really be focusing on is clever, nimble, entertaining apps like EW’s Must List or Gourmet Live. Neither of those are perfect, but both actively understand that they must translate their print editions into a utilitarian complement to their users’ content consumption habits.

Lots of reactions. Here are the best ones:

Gizmodo, in a hands on with the iPad writes: “It’s substantial but surprisingly light. Easy to grip. Beautiful. Rigid. Starkly designed. The glass is a little rubbery but it could be my sweaty hands. And it’s fasssstttt.” Gizmodo seems overly impressed with the speed of the device, but also point out that while surfing the web without Flash, those “big, empty video boxes in the middle of a page is pretty disappointing”.

Crunchgear gives the iPad a glowing review writing: “All the naysayers can feel free to eat their hats. Today Apple finally revealed the device we’ve all been whispering about for a good year or more. The Sasquatch of gadgets is real.” Although they are a little concerned with the lack of camera for video chats and the lack of SD card storage.

The New York Times David Pogue likes the iPad and warns the “bashers” to hold off before judging the device. Pogue writes: “Overall, the iPad seems like a dream screen for reading and watching—at some loss of convenience in creating. True, there’s an on-screen keyboard, big enough to type on with both hands in the usual way.”

Gdgt also live blogged the event and Ryan Block wraps up their coverage with this note: “Will people buy it in droves? Is there actually room for a device between smartphones and laptops? That I don’t know — I’ve always been skeptical there’s room for a third category in there. But if there is a contender for this space, the iPad is it.”

Engadget writers shares their thoughts too. They describe the device screen as “stunning” and at 1024×768 it feels like a large iPhone in your hands. They all discussed the speed of the device saying the iPad is “blazingly fast”. But, as others have written, the device has some major limitations, and as Engadget writes: “No camera. None, nada. Zip. No video conferencing here folks.” There are also major setbacks with the lack of multitasking and as Engadget points out that, “there’s no multitasking at all. It’s a real disappointment.”

GottaBeMobile writes that the device is consumption device, not a creation device, specifically when you look at the lack of camera for video creation. There’s also mention of the stark reality that this device is meant for reading too, writing: “Apple is going after the Kindle no question, along with anyone else who is jumping on eBooks.”