I have been wondering if the iPad would be compatible with oekaki or Photoshop. There are some flaws with the device, but if you could use it for photoshop and oekaki, I wouldn't mind it.

Watched the video and it looks cool, but I wonder if it'll feel natural and precise, painting with your finger.

It will not, because Java is unsupported. Photoshop won't run because you can only run apps designed specifically for iphone/ipod/ipad. They would have to port Photoshop to the platform (which is unlikely).

I was thinking it would be really cool to use software like Zbrush on a piece of hardware like that... so that bit of news is disappointing, marcello. Maybe they'll find a practical way to port programs?

It's not practical to just "port" a program from a keyboard/mouse-based device to a finger-based multi-touch device. The critical user interaction is very different as you don't have a precise tiny input cursor, but big fat fingers. You have to do real work to design a user interface that works in that environment.

I think it's kinda cool, but I'd much rather buy a tablet and a desktop then an ipad. So I'd never use the app ever. o_o

The point is that if you're not on a hardware devise where you can use things like photoshop, artrage, etc, you can still draw on the ipad with the special software. Seems more like something concept artists/ spoiled art students would use out of the house but I'm not shooting it down, I'm interested in what might come out of the jumbo touch ipod.

It's certainly interesting but painting with your fingertips on a glass surface is weird. And it's missing pressure sensitivity.
But I think touch technology offers a lot of new interesting prospects.

Take a look at this: link
This touch display is so sensitive that you can already use it with a pen and it's also pressure sensitive. They even attempt to paint with a normal paintbrush which doesn't work that good yet.
I would love to buy a device with similar technology. I think drawingtools, etc could benefit from this new range of input. -> of course they would need to be redesigned at first.

In case someone is into painting with their fingertips, check out the Bamboo Touch by Wacom.

re: link, it seems to be fake pressure sensitivity based on the size of the finger touching the display, not actual pressure.
apparently it's just a resistive display, so it won't detect things like the actual bristles on the brush, it's merely detecting the overall pressing by the brush.
Still, it's nice to see the technologies being pushed!

How awesome would that be if they invented a drawing pad that came with a paintbrush, the problem is they would have to make it far to sensitive because with a paintbrush you dont use that much pressure when your'e painting.

it would probably be optical.
still, there's a much cheaper way to do exactly that...