So I just cracked open a new iPad, plugged it in to de-brick it, fired up iTunes, and then sat around for 10 mins waiting for the USB Screen Of Death to disappear...

Alas, the geniuses at Apple strike again.

Turns out that if your iTunes doesn't recognize your iPad, you may need to run Software Update to get the latest iPhone SDK Compatibility Update;

The Apple bug report here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2983