But doubts remained as to whether Apple's latest gadget would mark a watershed and accelerate the take-up of paid-for multimedia content.

"It's still a niche product, not mass market," said Philippe Gendret, head of digital and business development for Switzerland's Edipresse.

"Would your average newspaper reader, aged 50, spend 500 euros just to read a (digital) paper? And will it lure in occasional web news surfers?"

He said the iPad's colour and display capabilities were "an important development," but added: "This is for the heavy user, for geeks."

Financial Times chief John Ridding, however, said the iPad marked "a significant new step," allowing providers "to deliver more interactive and dynamic content to our customers."

Either way, according to Michael Zackrisson, Internet chief for Swedish weekly Veckans Affarers, the iPad "won't save the media industries, we have to do that ourselves."

Newspapers and magazines have gone digital to stay relevant in an Internet-obsessed culture, but have seen print advertising revenue evaporate as stories and images are freely indexed and shared online.

Apple has led the way in conditioning people to pay once more for applications, games and other content.

Ben Carlin, an adviser to the European Newspaper Publishers' Association (ENPA), expressed fears that Apple could become too dominant.

"There are worries," he said, that the company could "use this power in an abusive manner by insisting on unreasonable margins, for example retaining 50 percent of revenues."

But the executive director of the European magazine publishers association, Max von Abendroth, said the colour breakthrough could make all the difference to glossy periodical publishers.

"This is the first really attractive tool for magazines," he said.

Jim Gaines, a former corporate editor at Time Inc. who is now editor-in-chief of FLYPmedia, sounded a more sceptical note.

"I don't think this device is the messiah for print, but it is very possible that its descendants will be," he said.

related report
Critics, fans weigh in on Apple's iPad
Critics and fans weighed in Thursday after Apple unveiled its "iPad" tablet computer with opinion divided on whether the iconic California company had given birth to another game-changing product.

While some technology analysts predicted the iPad will be the best-selling electronics device of 2010, others complained it has no camera or USB port, can't multi-task, can't be used as a phone and doesn't support Adobe Flash.

Unveiling the new touchscreen device Wednesday, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs admitted he was taking a gamble by trying to carve out an entirely new device category between the laptop computer and the smartphone.

"We think we've got the goods," Jobs said. "We think we've done it."

Wall Street was uncertain. After gaining nearly one percent on Wednesday, Apple shares were trading about 3.5 percent lower at midday on Thursday, occasionally dipping below 200 dollars.

A number of analysts described the iPad as a potentially powerful rival to Amazon's Kindle electronic book reader, but shares in the online retail giant were up nearly one percent at midday after gaining 2.7 percent on Wednesday.

Although consumers will have the final say, technology analysts and gadget reviewers were mixed on whether the iPad will be a smash hit like the iPod, which controls over 70 percent of the market for MP3 players, or the iPhone, which completely transformed the smartphone arena.

Samuel Axon of tech blog Mashable was among those in the disappointed camp.

"The iPad isn't the transformational device so many Apple enthusiasts were hoping for," Axon wrote. "It won't turn all the content industries upside down, it won't be your primary computing device and it's not even a bigger, better iPhone."

Michael Hiltzik, a technology columnist for the Los Angeles Times, said "the iPad resembles a scaled-up iPhone -- without the phone."

The tech blog of Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said that after months of pre-launch hype, "expectations for the new Apple product were so high they were difficult to fulfil."

"In its current form, there are too few advantages compared with a notebook or a smartphone," it said, asking whether consumers would be ready to pay to read newspapers on the iPad when they can get the same content online for free.

John Ridding, chief executive of Britain's Financial Times, one of the few newspapers to charge readers online, hopes they will.

"Apple's new iPad is a welcome innovation, providing another important channel for publishers," Ridding said.

"We hope this launch marks a significant new step in the evolution of portable digital devices, providing a richer user experience and giving the FT the ability to deliver more interactive and dynamic content to our customers."

Spain's El Pais said the iPad opens up a new avenue for content creators struggling to adapt to the digital era. "The real revolution will not be technological but cultural and entrepreneurial," it said.

"Books, videogames, movies, maps, newspapers and television shows will be distributed through the iPad," it said.

"News publishers, movie studios, music labels and software developers have a unique opportunity to reinvent their sector," El Pais said.

Om Malik of tech blog GigaOm said the iPad is "made for the consumption of digital media: games, music, photos, videos, magazines, newspapers and e-books.

"The iPad's primary purpose is to help you consume the ever-expanding amount of digital content on offer," he said, calling it the "ideal device for today's world."

Claudine Beaumont, technology writer for Britain's Daily Telegraph, hailed the sleekness of the iPad, its reading software and virtual keyboard.

"It won't replace your laptop, but I think it may have sounded the death knell for notebook computers," she wrote.

MG Siegler of tech blog TechCrunch, after playing with the iPad, pronounced it "beautiful and fast."

"It felt like I was holding the future," Siegler said, adding that while it may not be a "must-have" device for many people right now it would appeal to the 75 million current iPod Touch and iPhone users, something Apple CEO Jobs also alluded to in his speech.

"And as that user base keeps expanding, so too will the base of those that are interested in the iPad -- many just don't know it yet," Siegler said.

Users eager to judge for themselves will have to wait two months before the first iPads are shipped worldwide at an entry-level price of 499 dollars.

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