Let's shift the debate a tad. Is the fact that the iPad is predominantly a consumption vs. creation device inherent in the tablet design or just a quirk of the iPad's implementation?

Personally, I think it's not an inherent limitation. I believe that tablets are fundamentally more usable for the vast majority of folks and I believe that they can and will be used for creating. More so, I think that putting computers into more people's hands will be a benefit to the human race, even merely in terms of creativity, that is almost impossible to estimate today.