The development cycle for the iPad was a heck of a lot longer than 22 weeks. In the Steve Jobs biography, he says that we wanted to do a tablet in the early 2000s after seeing MS's efforts and knowing they "were doing it wrong". But his engineers convinced him to shelve those plans and take elements of it for what became the iPhone, as a smartphone would be easier to sell than a tablet (especially after seeing MS efforts fail).
As a "tech enthusiast", I see the Surface Pro and like everything about it. I don't see the point of Windows RT, just like I don't see the point of the iPad. But if I can get the great tablet interface of RT with the ability to use all of my old programs and still get some real work done, I'm sold. Just keep it under $1000.
