Everyone figured the iPad 2 would come in lighter and slimmer, but this much is incredible: a third thinner than the original iPad, even thinner than an iPhone 4. The iPad 2 also shaved off a couple tenths of a pound, weighing in at 1.3 pounds compared to 1.5 pounds of the original iPad.

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Apple answered iPad customers' number one complaint in such a dramatic way that it catapults the iPad ahead of the competition. Sure, Apple could have really revolutionized the form factor with, say, a flexible screen, but that's really not what tablet customers were asking for.

Leveraging its supplier relationships and demand forecasting advantage, Apple was also able to keep iPad 2 prices the same as those of the original iPad, starting at $499. This severely undercuts the iPad's closest competitor, the newly released Motorola Xoom, which starts at $800. (A case can be made, however, that the cost of a Verizon-subsidized Xoom with a two-year data contract is comparable with an 3G iPad over two years.)

While Apple didn't announce a dramatic price reduction of the original iPad, much like it did with previous model iPhones during the debut of the latest iPhone, Apple's online store began offering a . The starting price for the original iPad is now $399.