The iPad Falls Short of Expectations—But What Does That Mean?

• The iPad market is saturated. Tablets are gadgets for a largish, elite niche. So, as a technology, the iPad adoption curve might look more like a bicycle’s than a mobile phone’s. Some people have and love them, but not everyone needs one.
• Tablets are “tweeners,” not as robust as a computer nor as convenient as a phone nor as fun as a gaming console. And because many people in developed countries already own those other gadgets, the number of people who really want an iPad is not that big.
• Actually, it’s just that people don’t need anything bigger than a big phone. Perhaps this is rightly a subpoint of (1), but it may just be that high-quality, 4-5.5 inch phone screens are good enough for most purposes. (The shorthand version here is: Phablets win.) —Alexis C. Madrigal – The Atlantic.