It's not just hardware upgradability: some of the problem could be solved if app developers created simple, lightweight iOS 5-compatible apps. But of course there's no business case for supporting early iPads, and I don't even think many early iPad owners necessarily think there should be.

The iPad is great because it is compact and a specific, coherent design. I could use a 12-year-old desktop tower for my evening reading, but I don't want to.