You do remember that a Samsung lawyer could not tell the difference between a Tab and ad iPad in a court, right?
(thankfully a second lawyer got it right)
I did have a smart phone before 97, an HTC Apache in 95. It was a flat rectangle with a large touchscreen in the middle. So goes the evolution of hardware towards a common structure that works best.
There is only few ways to make a tablet, which is essentially just a large screen. How should a touchscreen seen from front, off and from several feet away look like? Pink vs. Green?
Again: Ridiculous discussion, nobody cares for the rest of the electronic world. Why the obsession with shiny gadgets?!