Cars, tv's and microwaves are established products with saturated markets. At the same pricepoint, they are all pretty much the same.

iPad has the huge first mover advantage here - there are no credible alternatives available for purchase, so customers are not able to make a real choice. At this point, smart money shows some restraint and avoids the urge to buy anything right now.

I know iPad has a strong "ooh shiny" effect, probably stronger than other Apple products - but if you look into the whole gadget objectively, you'll see that it's nothing others wouldn't be able to do better.