The iPhone had an easy argument to make with consumers: if you buy it, you’ll be able to do a thousand things on it that you can’t do on your current phone.

• Access to the iTunes store.
• Music downloads over the air.
• Incredible YouTube videos, full-screen.
• A mind-blowing touch-screen interface.
• Web pages look just like they do on your computer.
• Games. Crazy cool games. You don’t have to go anywhere to get incredible new video games!
• An App store where you can download games for free or $5 or $10, and they fly over the air straight to your phone.

The iPad can’t make that argument:

• You can already browse the Web on your computer and iPhone.
• You have access to iTunes on your computer and iPhone.
• You can read books on your iPhone. Or Kindle.
• You can play cool games and download apps on you iPhone.
• You can do your social networking elsewhere.
• You can certainly listen to music and play games elsewhere.

Apple needs to articulate what consumers can do on the iPad that they cannot do on their laptops or iPhones.

Their position of the iPad being “the best way to experience the Web” is not enough.

We already have ways to experience to the Web. On larger screens.

What can the iPad do that laptops and iPhones cannot?

Until Apple answers the question, the iPad will not be adopted by anywhere near the number of consumers who have use an iPhone.