I own a Toshiba Thrive 32gig tablet. The selling point, for me, was the availability of external ports.
I may be wrong, but the iPad doesn't offer external ports such as hdmi, USB, correct?
Not to forget the difference in price. My year old Thrive cost $475 off the shelf and the iPad was over $700.
Rooting is almost a given as there is bloatware on every brand.