[Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) General] omneity:
This is spot-on. Tablets/Phablets were originally designed as consumption devices, anyone looking to create content content would stick to traditional laptops/ultrabooks/netbooks. With the Note range Samsung has attempted to bridge the gap between the two and for many of us the Note has replaced our laptops. I still cary a small netbook around in the boot of the car for on-site work, but it probably gets used now less than once a month. Likewise my laptop was last used when I reinstalled my desktop PC to Windows 8.1. It's a backup computer nowadays and not a primary device, my Note 10.1-12, now followed by the Note 10.1-14 has replaced that portable functionality.

As to whether this device has "failed" in the sales sense, I think it's too early to call, anyone who's intentionally set out to buy one of these since the launch in October will know that supply has been quite scarce, so demand has so far outstripped supply - that's probably a measure of its success.

As for the Apple/Samsung thing, there's no doubt that Samsung is globally stealing a march over Apple in the smartphone stakes and it's likely that this drive will impact positively on the sales of Samsung/Android tablets over the coming months & years.. As more apps get developed for the S-Pen and more particularly for tablets' landscape format, more people will see high-end devices like the Note 10.1 as a productive devices rather than just entertainment devices. Cheap Android tablets are flying off the shelves this Christmas and many of those who receive a cheap Android tablet will go on to upgrade to a higher-end Android devices such as the Note 10.1-14. Android tablets are already way outselling iOS tablets - there is only one company producing iOS tablets, but there are many producing Android tablets. Android is winning the phablet/tablet race, but no one manufacturer is likely to be seen as 'THE' Android tablet as the market is so crowded, even at the premium-end level.

Apple has successfully associated the generic term 'tablet' with the iPad (it was their original concept, so this is no surprise), I had a customer say to me the other day "Oh, I didn't know Samsung were now making iPads...". It's a bit like the Biro/ball-pen, Hoover/vacuum cleaner, Coke/cola generalisations that have become part of common language rather than specific product endorsement. As a case in point: XDA-Developers came about through the amateur developer interest in HTC's one-time excellent XDA series smartphones, HTC are now a minor player who have since lost their market dominance through poor commercial decisions and lack-lustre 'new' product releases, yet their brand name lives on as the leading portal for Android development. Building your brand name so it becomes the label for all similarly place products is every manufacturer's dream, keeping your products associated with the brand name you created requires continuous innovation and product development. For the moment at least, Apple appear to have lost their edge in this respect. I'm old enough to remember back to the 1980s & 90s when Apple where the computer manufacturer to go to for desktop design, by the latter part of the 90s Apple were close to bankruptcy, then Steve Jobs 'invented' the Apple iMac G3, later to be followed by the hugely successful iPod that replaced the 'Walkman'. The 'i' product brand was well and truly born and it's very successfully taken the Apple logo/brand with it.