1) When I first tried out the original iPad in May 2010, while I liked the bigger display it still felt like playing with a "writ large" version of an iPod touch. It wasn't until iOS 4.2.1 became available that the iPad finally lived up to its promises, especially the ability to safely run more than one app at a time.
2) As for iOS 5.0 (which we may see a developer beta probably as early as April 2011), from the rumors I've read they cleaned up the interface and also made it easier to use. I really do like to see Apple offer some improvements on the iOS interface to keep it ahead of the latest Android version.
Yes, Apple is always working on improving their products. Apple revolutionized the way people buy and listen to music. They completely changed the smart phone market, and now everyone is imitating the iPhone. They produced the first successful mobile tablet device, and again everyone is going to be imitating them, though no one else is yet producing any significant sales of their promised products.
Apple has created a powerful and easy to use program development environment with Xcode and the Cocoa frameworks. The new Xcode 4 has reached the Gold Master stage and it's amazing. Not only has Apple satisfied their programmers, but they will attract many more with this beautifully designed integrated development environment. They now have the fastest and most efficient compiler for the C family of languages in the business with the clang processor and LLVM compiler.
Apple will be releasing the iOS 4.3 software update this week. And I look forward to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion which will be released later this year. Sales of Macs continue to increase, and Macs are extremely popular among programmers and web developers.