Apple CEO Steve Jobs this morning introduced the iPad 2, the first big overhaul of the company's slate-style computer, or big mobile device, or however the tech industry ultimately decides to categorize this thing.

The new hardware is thinner and lighter, and adds both front- and rear-facing cameras for video chat and capture. It runs on Apple's new iOS 4.3, with new features including the ability to stream music and video from an iOS device to a Mac or Windows PC over a home network.

It will be available in the U.S. starting March 11, priced from $499 to $829, depending on storage capacity and connectivity. Models with 3G connections will be available from both AT&T and Verizon.

In the process of unveiling the iPad 2, Jobs took some obligatory jabs at both Amazon and Microsoft.

He said that, although Amazon doesn't publish numbers, the 200 million Apple ID accounts is likely "the most accounts with credit cards anywhere on the internet." Apple announced that Random House has made its full catalog of e-books available on Apple's iBookstore, stepping up Apple's competition with Amazon's Kindle and Kindle iOS apps.

In a thinly veiled reference to Microsoft, Jobs also noted that the 15 million iPads sold in nine months are "more than every tablet PC ever sold."

Previously on TechFlash: New Kindle ad takes shot at iPad ... Microsoft's long view vs. the iPad