After months of speculation Apple unveiled their newest device today. It’s called an iPad, due to launch in two months, and it is meant to be a third portable device, neither the laptop that you use for heavy work when sitting down or the Smartphone you carry with you everywhere. It is an in-between device, something you might use on the couch, carry with you into board meetings, or read books with in bed at the end of the day. Not everyone is going to see a need for it rightaway, a luxury for those with heavy computer lives, but one that expands Apple’s multi-touch universe into a bigger world.

The iPad is, at first glance, like a large-sized iPod Touch. It is very, very thin, has a 9.7” touchscreen display, and only a smattering of buttons: volume, mute, and power. It can use the same apps currently available for the iPhone, plus new ones designed specifically for the larger screen. These include new versions of the e-mail, contacts, notes, photos, music, and video features that are familiar to Mac and iPhone users, but according to the company are better because of the iPad’s combination of multi-touch with a larger screen. The screen utilizes a slightly different technology, an LED-backlit IPS display and the iPad’s processor is Apple’s own 1 GHz “A4” chip. Building on the company’s recent advances in battery design, it will also offer a ten hour battery life.

There are two areas where the iPad out performs the iPhone. A version of iWork, Apple’s suite of office applications, will be released offering multi-touch editions of Keynote, Pages, and Numbers for users to perform light office work with, preparing presentations, charts, and reports with all the magical manipulation that iPhone users typical enjoy with photos, maps, and apps.iBooks is an included eBook application that Apple will support with an online store similar to their existing iTunes and Apps stores, but dedicated to books in the open ePub format. ibooks displays titles as physical books on a shelf and features a number of stunning animations, from the way the shelf rotates like a secret passageway to access the iBooks Store to the way that finger swipes can curl or turn a page or the way books swirl and open.

That physicality is present in a number of other apps too, with both Contacts and Notes feeling like physical books embedded under the screen.

As expected the iPad is also an iPod, playing music, videos, podcasts, and all the other content available through the iTunes store both through built-in speakers and a headphone jack. Like an iPad it synchronizes and backs-up its content through USB with either a Mac or PC computer.

Anticipating that consumers might hesitate in buying a third portable device, Apple will launch the iPad in a variety of models to deliver a range of prices. From $499 for 16 GB, $599 for 32 GB, and $699 for 64 GB. These models all include a Wi-Fi connection for accessing the internet and will go on sale two months from now worldwide.

Three months from now, however, Apple will also release three more models with 3G cellular data access, initially through AT&T in the US for $629 for 16 GB, $729 for 32 GB, and $829 for 64 GB. Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs says that they will begin today to negotiate deals with international wireless carriers and hope to announce launches of the 3G models for other markets by June or July, if not sooner (the company’s press release states that select countries might be included by April). The 3G models will be sold without a contract and also available unlocked.

While the iPad uses a virtual keyboard, both in portrait and landscape views, the company will also release a selection of accessories for the iPad including a keyboard dock to attack a physical keyboard specially made for the iPad, as well as a standard dock and a special carry case that can double as a stand.