Fair enough, and looking at it like that makes a bit more sense, but I still believe that for Microsoft to ignore the iPhone means that they will likely ignore the iPad. I expect the iPad to sell well, but I'll be amazed if it sells better than the iPhone. So my thinking is that if the huge sales of the iPhone didn't convince Microsoft to care, then the sales of the iPad won't either. But, who really knows for sure other than Microsoft.

What you said has me sitting back a minute and thinking, though... you're right: people will probably compare the iPad to a Tablet PC or netbook. Is that going to hurt the iPad in the short term? When people realize that it's like a Tablet PC only in design (generally speaking) but unlike a Tablet PC in that it won't run desktop software, will people be put off?

I can actually see people going into the Apple store, picking up the iPad, playing with it, and then asking "so I can run my desktop software on this, right?" With its size, will people more likely assume it's a big iPhone or a keyboard-less laptop?