I'm all for Linux (my primary development machine) but, really? You would favorably compare the UI of this 'cheap chinese media player' to the iPad? It's just not a contest. If my grandma needs a computer for looking at photos we send her and sending email -- well, guess which device it wont be.
Yes, but he's not your grandma. If he'd done the standard geek thing and said "why would anyone buy this..." and listed some obscure geek reasons then fine, but he didn't.
I'm actually thinking about buying one for myself but it's true that the competition I'm weighing it up against is one or more cheap, no-brand, linux devices (openinkpot e-reader, cheap netbook, tegra webpad, openpandora) at a fraction of the cost.