Now that Apple have introduced their new iPad to the world, the ever-changing world of online poker and gambling could be set to undergo yet another futuristic transition.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the successful completion of the tablet computer in a press conference on Wednesday, around a decade after work on it began, and despite having canceled the project twice in the past.

With a 9.7 inch (25 cm) multi-touch screen and starting at a price of $499, this wondrous new piece of technology will prove massively popular when it is released in US stores in March.

And given that it effectively has most of the features of a laptop or smart phone, users could now be presented with the opportunity to play online poker wherever they go, providing they have the necessary Wi-Fi or 3G coverage.

At present players would obviously be limited to browser-based casinos, but given that online casinos have already developed software for Apple's previous success story - the iPhone - there is no reason to suggest they won't also do so for the iPad.

If poker operators can successfully develop software for the iPad's unique multi-touch screen format - and there is no doubt they will - then combined with the claimed 10 hour battery usage, poker and iPads are set to become the perfect match for each other.