First off, I'd argue that the three different form factors fit different use cases, so a person could make a sensible argument for owning all three for his/her particular circumstances. Second, if your mate splashed out on an expensive device without having any idea what he was going to use it for, then yes I'd agree, that is an example of someone having more money than sense! But thirdly I don't think that it logically follows that you can then write off *all* tablet purchases as an example of more money than sense, as the parent did - unless you disagree with my first point, in which case we'll have to agree to disagree.

What's the killer app for his laptop or his iPhone? The appeal of all three devices, laptop, smartphone and tablet, is their general purpose Swiss army knife like functionality - of course there'll be overlap, they're all effectively personal computers, but in different form factors, each of which has it's pros and cons.

I'm not very knowledgeable on share trading, can you expand on this - Apple are listed on the NASDAQ so I'd have thought if this was closed for trading then you can't trade APPL, or if you can make private trades, that these wouldn't impact the price until registered with the NASDAQ.