The iPad Is Like the iPod, Not the iPhone ⇥ stratechery.com

Ben Thompson nails it again:

Most folks seem to instinctively compare the iPad and the tablet market to the iPhone and smartphone market, and it’s easy to see why. They share the same OS, the same competitor, many of the same apps, and, of course, the same time period — the present.

But in reality — and this touches on many of the themes of this blog — an overt focus on product similarities misses many crucial factors that, in my opinion, make iPhones and iPads very different. In fact, I believe the business we should be looking at to understand where Apple might take the iPad is the iPod, not the iPhone.