The Apple Of His Eye

Steve Jobs introduced the world to the Apple iPad 2 yesterday, and it looks like the Wizard of Ooohs and Ahhs is still pulling magic out of his hat.

After much speculation as to whether Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is currently on medical leave from the company, would show up to Wednesday's Apple press conference, the man himself has appeared on stage.

"We've been working on this product for a while and I didn't want to miss today," he said, to a standing ovation from the gathered crowd. "Today we're here to talk about Apple's third post-PC blockbuster product," he said, according to Engadget's live blog. "That's how we think about these things. We started with the iPod, then we added the iPhone, and then the iPad. Every one has been a blockbuster."

The iPad 2 has nearly twice the processing power and a front and rear camera, and much like Jobs himself, it's a lot thinner than last year's model.  But the real kicker is the cheaper $499 price for the basic 16GB model, and suddenly all the talk of Apple having competition in the tablet market just dried up overnight.  The iPad 2 goes on sale a week from Friday.

Don't mess with Steve, man.