Just what I thought. I mean just take a look into newspapers, televisions or favourite (not even tech-)websites: Everybody talks about Apples newest. If you want to be "cool" and "trendy" your MP3 player should be an iPod, your mobile phone should be an iPhone and so on. Just compare it with other devices: Nobody gives a sh*t if Nokia, HTC or Motorola is releasing new devices - only the tech specific sources do. Not so Apple: You can read articles about their newest invention in even the smallest local newspapers.

I'm still sure that most people do not even need an iPad - they bought it for the "Hey look, I've got an iPad, I'm hip!" thingy. Everybody talks about it, you read everywere about and you hear about it all the time, so people just buy it.
Like the iPhone: Nobody cares for similar phones - not the HTC Touch Pro 2, not their Android devices, not my N900. But when someone comes with an iPhone, even the very first one, people still get curious because it is "that legendary mobile you always hear about".