Sometimes it's because they make very very good products (the iPhone is one of the best smartphones out, no doubt) but sometimes I just don't know. The iPad is an example of a product with only a very very limited range of uses, same goes for all of these new tablet PC's. For most people, in most situations, a netbook is actually a far more useful product. Yet the media fawned over the iPad anyway.

And here is where we can see the underlying mentality as well as where an individual's brand loyalty lies.

MS failed to produce a product where the merits offset its limitations in regards to the tablet market. To the biased MS fan, therefore tablets are a horrible idea that nobody wants.

Apple produces a product that is a huge commercial success and breakthrough for the tablet market at large and suddenly they aren't a horrible idea that nobody wants, but a horrible idea that only idiots want including the following (http://community.citrix.com/display/ocb/2010/04/01/Top 10 Business Uses For the iPad):

1) Healthcare - Great for medical practitioners accessing EMR apps and schedules, doctors reviewing PAC's images, and nurses in bedside care. Used at hospitals, clinics, medical offices and doctors on call from anywhere. With Citrix Receiver, even the most resource intensive Windows 3D rendering applications can now be displayed in detail ( check out the demo )
 
2) Field Sales & Services - Perfect for presentations on the go, demonstrations, full access to product information, pricing, customer service records, order status and technical applications. No more "I'll need to get back to you on that".
 
3) Insurance Agents - Great for field claims adjusters, office day extenders and local agents working on quotes. All your business applications built for Windows? We've got an app for that!
 
4) Real Estate Agents - Imagine the power of showing highly visual home tours to customers from the car as you take them around to prospective homes, or even submitting offers from the road.
 
5) Mobile IT Pros - Who says IT pros have to be boring? Carry around an iPad, and your entire image with end users could take a turn for the better. Now with Citrix Receiver, you can easily access all your Windows support apps, dashboards, and documents.
 
6) Legal Professionals - Lawyers (who could sometimes use an image boost as well) could also increase their cache by carrying an iPad around while meeting with clients. With Citrix, they'll have full secure access to every document, contract and Nexis-Lexis search, from the car, office or courtroom.
 
7) Teachers & Students - Ok, maybe this isn't technically a "business" use, but it's definitely one of the industry segments that's most excited about the iPad. With Citrix, everyone from teachers and administrators to students now has easy secure access to all the Windows apps and resources they need...
 
8) Financial Professionals - Whether you're on the trading floor or with clients, financial pros now have easy, secure access to all their Windows trading apps, dashboards, documents, real-time quotes, Bloomberg Anywhere and portfolio analysis tools.
 
9) Corporate Campus Workers - The world is full of corporate employees who may not travel extensively, but they spend an awful lot of time walking around the corporate campus, attending meetings, making presentations, reviewing documents (then extending the day at home). Lugging a laptop around campus can be a hassle, Enter the iPad with Citrix Receiver!
 
10) Remote and Mobile Workers - Finally, whether you're a utility worker, police officer, or anyone who works remotely and needs "always-on" access to Windows business apps, desktops and data, we now have an app for you.

I know perfectly well that they have shitloads of uses.  I'm not even saying that IF I would buy an iPad (heck, I even told my dad he should get an iPad instead of a new laptop, although I don't think he will), I wouldn't use it, as I would probably use it a ton.  I think my problem, and why the whole tablet idea makes me angry, is it seems like we buy devices a year ago that were supposed to be able to do everything necessary.  1 year later, a newer better device comes out that can do even more stuff for us.  1 year later, an even better device.  It gets to the point where somebody like me is fine with using several of the "old fashioned" things, rather than continuing to buy new things, and just having all our old thinsg sit around and not be used at all.

That, I think, is the sole reason why the whole tablet thing irks at me.  I try coming up with other excuses that I just think they are stupid, etc., but in all reality, I know that isn't the truth, but that the truth is I am sick and tired of how people go out and buy something that is supposed to be all encompassing and replace it one year later.

You just described the entire tech industry. This is one of the reasons why e-waste recycling/management is and should be more of a concern to all manufacturers.

Nobody should expect the industry to sit still frozen and produce the same product for even more than a single year without upgrading specs using the best current available materials and parts. What would be the point of that? To alleviate consumer grief over not having the most current version of a given device or component? Welcome to the auto industry, circa its inception, only the tech industry moves even faster.

If anything, the constant updates only increase the utility of said devices, just like new and updated versions of the software designed to run on them.

I know that's how it needs to work, it just PISSES me off, lmfao.

The only thing that pisses me off about update schedules is when I time them wrong and miss the update by buying anything less than 6 months too early.

In this respect, I feel for all those people who got iPads for Christmas only to see the iPad 2 released in March. Ouch.

The netbook is really nothing more than a gimped, cut spec/price laptop.

If there is anything a netbook can do that a laptop can't, I haven't heard of it.

I don't consider a netbook a replacement for a proper computer either.