Was the market (provided one defines a segment of it accurately enough to make such statement) complaining about the lack of portable MP3 players that could host thousands of tracks?
No.
Then the iPod is released to the general public and it becomes a success.

So, besides the fact that you don't hear people complain, what data do you have to say that the market (again provided you define this clearly) would not appreciate Flash and prefer not having it over having it?
Clearly this is retorical. There's no such undebatable data. In fact, there are people in the market, - that is, it exists a market segment - who prefer the iPhone with FLASH or with similar technologies.

The proof is easily found: >> I << exist And, it seems, few others in this board. And, I think I am safe in saying that there are people out there who prefer being able to use YouTube than not being able to. They are in the "market", and form a market segment that Apple is pleasing less that it could.

This is simple. All other arguments are indeed interesting, but, again, unrelated to what stated above and previously by me.

It does not mean the iPhone will fail as a product. It does not mean I hate you either: I don't! . It simply means I am less happy with an Apple product than how I could have been, and others like me.


- The "market" as you call it is a collective, and should be treated statistically. Statistics describes groups, not individuals, and by selecting individuals you can form different groups: there are market segments that don't match you description of "market" and who are less happy without flash than with it.

- "People" will compare similar products only if you define as "people" the group of those who would do so. I would not. I am speaking precisely of the fact that Product A would have been better if...

- "People" will not find Flash as a factor pro-purchase only if you define "people" as those who would not.
I, instead, don't particularly like browsing on mobile devices. I find it ineffective most of the time, unpleasant, often frustrating just because of the screen size. Knowing that I will ALSO deal with several incompatibility issues, I am definitely not tempted to buy any mobile device to browse the internet. Still, IF I knew that I would have a full featured browser, be it IE, FF, Safari, as powerful as that in a desktop, then I may be thinking about such thing. I promise. I am talking about myself. I know.
The iPad itself, as a concept, would be more appealing to me. Todsay, crazy as I may sound, believe me I'd rather spend three times as much a get a Tablet with Windows 7 or any other "full" OS.
So, yes, it is for me a factor that contributes to determine whether I'd buy the iPad or not.

Any OTHER point is interesting, here, but this is the one I made when I said that as a consumer I am not happy. It's really simple and does not imply anything it does not say explicitly.