"I think the answer comes down to the ecosystem being far more important on tablets than on phones."
from what i've seen in my friends and customers usage (and my own experience) you couldn't be more wrong. on a phone, a mobile app often provides significant usability improvements over a website. on a tablet, all anybody cares about is having the web. games are nice, but ultimately not that big of a deal, and the iPad doesn't have a significantly better ecosystem as far as games go. the app advantage on iPad is apps that are clones of a website.
the reason that android tablets are failing is because they are an inferior product to the iPad in terms of style functionality and raw specs, and yet they cost the same or more than the market leader.
I'll just add a second, conflicting, anecdote. Most of the iPad owners I know use them heavily for games. If you took away the games I have no doubt the my girlfriend, for example, would sell her iPad instantly.
Also the difference in the quality of games between the iPad and Android is huge, probably far bigger than any other app categories. Lost of big name studios like EA and 2K games and getting behind the iPad and producing games of a quality you don't even approach on Android.
Now I'll admit I have no idea how important games are, really. But if I was to go purely on personal observations I'd say it's highly significant.
There is a large (and growing) number of people using the iPad to play and record music. It's a great alternative to expensive and specific hardware instruments and controllers for many purposes.
from what i've seen in my friends and customers usage (and my own experience) you couldn't be more wrong. on a phone, a mobile app often provides significant usability improvements over a website. on a tablet, all anybody cares about is having the web. games are nice, but ultimately not that big of a deal, and the iPad doesn't have a significantly better ecosystem as far as games go. the app advantage on iPad is apps that are clones of a website.
the reason that android tablets are failing is because they are an inferior product to the iPad in terms of style functionality and raw specs, and yet they cost the same or more than the market leader.