Just tried twice to comment on this ( http://thenextweb.com/apple/2010/01/31/ipad-arrived-iphone/) and failed (ironically?) doing so with iPhone so here are both attempts at comment instead:
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But the key point is surely that the iPhone dominating the form factor for phones has shown that "smaller is better" is not universal, and "bigger can be better" when the resulting form factor suits the dominant use better.
And that's surely why the iPad has a place, because the iPhone has now built the market for a mobile appliance computing platform rather than 'just a phone' but you need a bigger screen really for that to be fit for purpose.
That said, I think it's also important that it's a common platform so you can use your iPhone as the pick up and go ultra mobile version with 3G to connect when out and about - with data in the cloud moving seamlessly to where you want it.
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Take 2
But the point is that the iPhone showed that the trend for 'smaller is better' is not inexorable and that the important thing is to have the best form factor for the dominant use for a computing appliance.
The iPhone has also demonstrated a demand for mobile browsing and apps platform (not a general purpose computer) and the phone has still been looking at the web (and apps) through a key hole. So if things had been reversed, the iPhone would be seen as an excellent pick up and go ultra mobile allways connected version of the ipad, but everyone would be focussing on the compromises necessary to squeeze it into a smaller form factor. I don't think it would render the iPad obsolete any more than portable TVs made the screen in the living room redundant - another area where "bigger is better" has become the mantra where once the market was applying the premium for ever smaller TVs (remember the hype over Sinclair's hand held TV and the TV watch? There's still a place for it, but no one would think that means the latest 108" LCD screens aren't still desirable)
-- Posted from my phone
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