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If you’ve been reading the blogs lately, you know one thing about the iPad. It sucks.

Never mind that none of the bloggers have used one, and only a handful have seen one up close, the early reviews are in, and the tech community hates this device, right? Not so fast.

Apple has a long and shining history of bad early reviews of it’s newest devices. Let’s hop into the way back machine and take a look at some early reviews that speak volumes…

1984- Apple introduces the Macintosh 

The Macintosh is universally regarded as the beginning of the Mouse Era of desktop computing, and while Apple didn’t actually invent the mouse (that honor goes to Park Systems owned by Xerox) they were the first company to market it.

Apple introduced the world to the Mac, as it would become known, with a $15 million dollar ad campaign that included a now infamous Superbowl ad. With a price tag of $2,495, Steve Jobs called his newest computing baby "Insanely Great".

But the tech boys hated it. Why? Because of that pesky mouse. The Wall Street Journal said "I think it’s awkward. Since it doesn’t get you away from the keyboard altogether, why go back and forth?".

Computer magazines of the day called the mouse a failure that would never survive the desktop environment. Hmm… I’m not so sure they were right. Oh, and Apple sold 70,000 units in the first 100 days, proving the critics wrong.

1998- The iMac

Apple’s first take at an all in one, with the monitor built directly into the case, hit the market like a giant easter egg in translucent colors. And the tech world hated it.

At $1,299, Apple asked consumers to "Think Different", and tech writers told Apple to "Think Again".

PC World wrote that "All the good looks and good intentions in the world can’t make up for slow application performance, poor sound quality, and no upgrade path."

And over the next four months, the iMac became the little computer that could, outselling all other personal computers in the world and growing Apple’s market share to 10%, which doubled their total market. 10% may not seem like a lot, but in a world of HP’s, Dell’s, Gateways, Packard Bell’s, Alienware, and more, it was a killing.

2001- The iPod

When Steve Jobs surprised the world with a portable music player that featured a 5Gb hard drive and a $395 price tag. the critics didn’t just write. They pointed and they laughed.

The biggest complaint was the cost.

"This is a pretty competitive category," said analyst Stephen Baker, who doubted that consumers would cough up $395, even for a "robust" features set. They won’t, said another analyst, Tim Deal of Technlogy Business Research. "Apple lacks the richness of Sony’s product offering. And introducing new consumer products right now is risky, especially if they cannot be priced attractively."

In the end though, it was the Cupertino Crew that had the last laugh. By the year 2005, Apple was selling 20 million iPods a year, and had claimed 65% market share. By 2009 sales were up to 50 million iPods a year, and 90% total market share.

A recent survey of 25,000 buyers ages 16 to 24 showed that 95% of them owned iPods. But more surprisingly is that 100% of those buyers said their next personal media player would be an iPod over any other brand.

For a device people wouldn’t pay for, 100% of the future market sure looks promising.

2007- The iPhone

Steve Jobs moved Apple into an entire new market with the launch of their first cellphone, an 8Gb multitouch beauty that was priced between $399 and $599.

And the reviews said it was revolutionary, but flawed.

The price was too high, the lack of a physical keyboard was a deal breaker, and no 3G meant that business savvy buyers wanted nothing to do with it.

Even Steve Balmer got into the act in order to protect his Windows Mobile phones. He claimed it was a cute device, but it didn’t make a very good messaging machine because it had no real keyboard. He predicted it wouldn’t last 6 months in the market.

David Pogue of the New York Times wrote: [The iPhone] does things no phone has ever done before" but also "lacks features found even on the most basic phones."

Of course, after selling 1.12 million iPhone in the first three months, Apple was pretty sure it had a hot product. After 90 days, it was already third most popular smart phone in America, and had competitors scrambling to find the Holy Grail, the "iPhone Killer".

Three years later, and the iPhone has sold over 50 million units worldwide. It is now the #1 sold smart phone in the US, and should overtake Blackberry as the #1 worldwide by the end of the year.

2010- The iPad

There were about a zillion features that people expected on Apple’s first tablet that they didn’t get, and the tech junkies are already proclaiming it a failed device. Does this sound familiar?

The reality is the iPad will launch in the U.S. on April 3, 2010 with over 140,000 applications already available, and a 3G unlimited data plan for $30 a month shortly there after.

It’s not designed to be a laptop replacement. It’s designed to be an all new category of personal computing. It’s different, but something tells me the critics are about to eat crow again.

I will be pre-ordering mine on March 12, and I really can’t wait to find out how wrong they all are this time.