I'm buying one. It should arrive this week. I got the confirmation that it shipped so it should be there by the time I get back into town.
For the question about using it as a phone...read on...
http://www.line2.com/ (I've read that it turns an iPod touch and iPad into a full working phone)
As to the uses? Endless. I travel a lot and thought that my 4" Creative Zen Vision W was good for watching movies while on the plane. Can't wait to see what a movie looks like on the 10" iPad. Ebooks should be good too. Applications? The only reason I ever wanted to get an iPhone was for the apps - now everything that will run on an iPhone also runs on an iPad and more apps are being developed.