Unlike smartphones and laptops, which replaced analog phones, typewriters, and filing cabinets, the tablet is pure digital abstraction -- the love-child of two digital devices

The answer is that our current digital ecosystem of smartphone + laptop doesn’t really fill our needs. Our phones aren’t good at making phone calls, and our laptops don’t share well. Both cost a lot but use only a fraction of their features. So much has changed since these platforms were originally defined that it’s time for a major re-adjustment, and the tablet is the first step. It’s the tip of the iceberg.

The tablet’s greatest impact on the technology ecosystem was in pointing out this weakness