The iPad was designed by people with taste, passion and opinions. It’s an expression in minimalism and the missing features are a testament to Apple’s philosophy just as much as the features they chose to include. No camera, no USB ports, no Flash, no multitasking (yet), no widescreen ratio, no keyboard. What it does do it does extremely well.
Apple designers are curators. It’s their job to say no, and they did, and many people bitched and moaned but they still sold an iPad every 3 seconds for the first 60 days.