There was no iTunes before the iPod, no iApps before the iPhone.

Of all the amazing Apple statistics, perhaps the most remarkable is three billion apps downloaded. That’s three billion transactions.

What kind of ecology of apps, books, magazines and other media will iBooks on the iPad develop?

How many tens of millions of iPod, iPhone and MacBook users already know how to use this device? And how many scores of million credit cards does Apple have on file? Has there ever been an audience better primed to try a new product?

People who know for sure they’ll buy it – designers, architects, photographers, ad reps – say they’ll use it to show portfolios to potential clients. In all the run-up to the event, did anyone ever talk about it as a hip presentational product for business?

And because one really has to hold it to truly appreciate it, I’m wondering if there will be a few comfortable chairs in the Apple Stores for people to sit down and relax with it in the palm of their hands? Folks at Broadway and 67th St., please take note.

Feb. 8 update – This post is corrected here.