So the iPad (an unfortunate name, as explained here, here, here, and everywhere else) looks to be just a bigger iPod Touch: no Flash support, no multitasking, no camera. They took the "o" and made it an "a."

What I don't get is why, every time Apple disgorges a new product, the techerati get so upset about what the product doesn't do. You'd think that, by now, they'd get Apple's business model, which is designed to extract every possible penny from fanboys' pockets. 

The iPad will have a camera. That'll probably be on the iPad 2, coming in early 2011. It will have Flash or a similar capability (iPad 1.2, late 2011). It'll eventually multitask (iPad 3, 2012). 

This is how Apple works. It leaves out seemingly necessary features because it knows it can sell millions of units anyway. Then, when it adds the desired feature, everybody ditches the old version, swoons over Jobs' vision, and pays full price for the exact same product all over again.

(Standard disclosure: I work for msnbc.com, which is half-owned by Apple competitor Microsoft. I am not, however, a Microsoft devoté. I carry an iPhone and an Android phone, and I love them both.)

Why would Apple remotely consider including a camera now? If it did so, it would fritter away half its eventual sales. It knows Apple fanatics (a subculture I've dipped into from time to time) are suckers.

(And if this post gets the reaction from them that I expect, we'll even know precisely where the stick is up.)