It's clear to me you don't understand the market then. Being the thinnest is a clear differentiator. Having aesthetic style means a LOT to a lot of people (ie, customers).

Furthermore, Apple did increase the processor size, memory, and probably battery (considering it has same 10hr life) and also decreased the total volume of the enclosure.

Finally, if you've ever used an iPad at length you'd realize it doesn't need cooling 99.9% of the time. It just doesn't get warm... this is a huge differentiator from the netbooks it's often compared to.

Apple even like to "cheats" the thinness, by making the edges thinner than the rest, so it seems thinner in photos and is just hovering over the desktop.

Cheating or not, 8.8mm is really thin.

Yes, that's an old optical trick that magicians use.

However, it also makes it easier to pick up from the table, right?

I charge the battery once a week or so. How do you plan to improve performances of an iPad increasing size? It doesn't need cooling.

The thin profile is actually what amazed me reading the specs. I have a new-ish iPod Touch and the form factor is one-of-a-kind. Even the iPhone is thicker than the Touch, with identical processing capabilities. Something like an iPad being about as thick as the Touch makes me more excited about buying one because it seems so darn futuristic.