As someone who's a part of the development of software that enables publishers to create Magazine and Multimedia Apps getting my hands on the new iPad to check out the retina display was a priority.
Were we going to look good, would we look bad, how would the other software providers look. I'm happy to say after a minute or two browsing various mags on the new iPad my fears were long gone.
Our software, Oomph, is based on resolution independent formats like PDF and HTML and because they are vector based they re-render well at any resolution. So our legacy magazines like the Qantas Mag and Gourmet Traveller look great without any revisions needed.
Obviously these resolution independent assets are combined with rendered assets such as images and video but personally I think the new iPad does a great job of presenting these 'continuous tone' assets with little degradation. As long as you have good quality to start the end product is surprisingly good (in my opinion).
So I'd have to disagree that it might be a decade. With the right software and some judicious use of imaging and video programs to create content I think you will see some spectacular results.

One particular website pulled a new Ipad apart. They said the screen was manufactured by Samsung. Unless Apple has some legal agreement to the contrary, I would imagine Samsung tablets/smartphones will soon be flourishing with this tech.

In reply to: ..."Until then, devices like the new iPad are a glimpse of the future marred by the reality of the present."
Wrong. The iPad 3 is what would have been now if companies are not greedy and people integral. Did we really need a HD format war when after it everyone started to download movies anyway?
I download movies from iTunes. Yes it takes half a day sometimes but you really cant blame Apple for providing products and services you cant afford.

years ago the hard disk drive on my laptop only 20GB, but now you can get a 2TB hard disk drive on a laptop. all new technology can not leave without larger data or the same technology with less data. I think that's the future. when I hold my new iPad compare to my old iPad 2, I think the New ipad should be named iPad 2s and you don't want to look back to iPad 2's screen again. the new display makes you feel that you have a pair of new glasses.

The new iPad will kill sales of all other tablets until the Windows 8 tablets come out at the end of the year from Dell, HP, Acer etc. It will be like 1984 all over again.

This is what the iPad wishes it was.
http://www.samsung.com/au/consumer/pc-peripherals/notebook-pc/slate-pc/XE700T1A-A01AU
Anything less and you are being cheated.

iPad 3, still no SD card slot. FAIL, but anything Apple says they don't need, the Applytes (Apple acolytes) smile and nod and chant in reply "We don't need expandability. We don't need options."
The "everything you need in one box with little or no ability to add more" has periodically been Apple's business model since 1984*. They keep going back to it and legions of customers keep buying it, and having buyer's remorse when they don't shell out the money for the highest end package.
*IIRC, Steve Jobs didn't want a hard drive on the original Macintosh, thus the ultra slow kludge of one connected via the external floppy drive port. It looks like there's no glimmer on the horizon of a super expandable high end Macintosh like hasn't been made since the PowerMac 9600. Make us a Mac with six x16 PCIe slots with the hardware bandwidth to use all the slots at full capacity. Kick everyone else's arse it would.

Gregg - on the expansion front, have you had a look at what Thunderbolt can do?
http://www.gizmag.com/tag/thunderbolt/

I am a developer as well as other developers, are experiencing speed issues with the high resolution display. The new iPad just does not have the power to move high-resolution graphics around. The new iPads Graphics chips have two times the power of the iPad 2 yet they are expected to move 4x the memory around. I will tell everybody to wait on the next generation iPad. I expect the next generation will have 8 cores which would essentially make it even with the iPad 2s ability to move graphics around at a higher resolution.
Even something as simple as moving, maps around; the developers are having a problem because it's just too slow. Of course we will not hear about these problems until and generation iPad comes out. Example: Cnet, just compared to the iPad2 to the new iPad, however when they compared they tested at 720 P not the new high-resolution; They avoided using the high res,because it would be to slow and most people would not want to pay for a slower iPad.
The new display is only good for static graphics; this also comes at a cost, if u are paying for your data, At 2g for $30 we need a low res option. Unless you need a camera with no flash, I would wait, for a year. What we need is an option to disable graphics unless we want them on any pages or e-mails. You can do this with android devices already. Seems Apple is in bed with the phone companies they are loving this new screen

Wow what a bunch of baloney from most all of you. I am Stunned by how fast and beautiful the iPad3 is. Go through Flip board and pages load and fly through like magic-use Pulse news and magazines blast through colorful articles with video like nothing. It is one of the BEST products ever and I have had every Mac since the first Macintosh and many PCs-blows every Android thing away. I do wish Flash was reintroduced with vector layers -let the video part be HTML5 but the rest we need back.