> if you can replace all of your computing with an iPad, then you may as well be using just a phone
Watching a movie, browsing the web, reading books, PDFs or news on a phone? I can't be the only one who feels nauseous after staring at a 3-4" screen for more than an hour. And the average user is growing older pretty much everywhere around the world.
Part of the point of the article, is that a tablet is a poor fit in the Android ecosystem because a large proportion of the people that would be potential tablet purchasers already have significantly larger screens.
Mine has a 4.3" screen, and when commuting these days, most people using their Android phones around me have phones with bigger screens than that - all the way up to the monstrous Galaxy Note (5.3").
So in the Android market, the tablets are being squeezed from the bottom by phones with significantly larger screens, and from the top by ultra-books. And then it's fragmented into the 7" and 10" form factors, with a glut of really low priced alternatives in the 7" segment, which is also competing with the Kindle.
Apple has spaced out the form factors in a way that creates room for the iPad for people who stick with Apple products. For people who don't stick with Apple products, it's hit and miss - if you pick a large phone, and a small laptop, or a big laptop + a netbook, and possibly throwing a Kindle into the mix, and the additional benefit of a tablet diminishes greatly.
Actually, the MacBook Air 11" is very similar in form factor to the iPad.</fact> <anecdote>I have seen one customer leaving an Apple reseller store in frustration because he couldn't decide between both. So this problem exists within Apple's ecosystem as well.
Watching a movie, browsing the web, reading books, PDFs or news on a phone? I can't be the only one who feels nauseous after staring at a 3-4" screen for more than an hour. And the average user is growing older pretty much everywhere around the world.