Well, it’s here. The iPad is a real thing. And it’s really boring.

Why is it boring? In the run-up to the announcement, we we’re led to believe the Apple tablet would “redefine” newspapers, text books and magazines.

From the looks of it, that’s just not true.

So what else is wrong in retrospect?

• Brian Marshall of Broadpoint AmTech blew it big time when he said it would “definitely” be on Verizon. 
• Apple didn’t end its AT&T exclusivity at all. In fact, it teamed up with AT&T alone for the iPad.
• It was not called the iSlate or iGuide. It is called the iPad, which surprised us. 
• No camera. The Journal hinted a camera might recognize your face. A French telecom executive said there would be a camera on it.
• A source told Nick Bilton we’d be “very surprised how you interact with the new tablet.” We just watched Steve Jobs interact with it, and there are no surprises.
• The price: Nobody saw $499 at the base-level. The range was $600-$1000.
• We didn’t get any information about the iPhone 4G.
• There is no revolutionary pricing/packaging for the TV shows.
• With 100% certainty, Boy Genius promised a 7″ version of the tablet.
• There is nothing special about typing. Patent applications indicated we’d see something radical.
• TechCrunch said it would have a Barnes & Noble bookstore in it. Instead we got the iBook store.