Since purchasing my iPad in July, the device hardly ever leaves my sight. It’s on my work desk all day, and it’s somewhere within easy grasp while at home.

I am an information junkie. The more information I have, the more information I want. Both my iPad and my iPhone have over 100 apps installed, and most of those are news and information gathering apps. Since the purchase of my iPad, there are unopened magazines in my mail pile at home that I have yet to even glance at in what I now describe as the “Apple iPad era.” At renewal, I plan to cancel all but one of the few magazine subscriptions we receive at home. The iPad is a far superior means to access and consume content than waiting on the mail for publications in print.

The impact of the “Apple iPad era” is unfolding before our eyes as developers see opportunities in iPad-specific apps and Apple ramps supply of iOS-based devices to meet global demand and further the company’s multi-product, integrated approach to the market. In the iPad era, I’m even looking at my iPhone from a new perspective.

In addition to being my primary device for voice communication, the iPhone is a pocket-sized complement to the tablet-sized iPad. From app-based news alerts, to dozens of apps shared with the iPad, the iPhone has become a practical extension of the way I use the iPad. In this context, the iPhone’s functionality has been enhanced by my heavy use of the iPad.

The iPhone is an excellent device for voice communication, text messaging, and e-mails while on the go. As a companion to the iPad, it has become a more useful mobile resource. I use the iPad for e-mail much more than I use the iPhone. The iPhone has become a pocket-sized means to follow up on communications that were sourced on the iPad and to access updates to news stories I have begun to follow. The shared application resources makes this integration all the more possible.

Apple’s MobileMe service syncs all of my iOS-based mobile devices together and with my Mac. Shared bookmarks, calendars, contacts, and e-mails allow me to continue with the work I started on my iPad when the device is out of reach or I’m at locations or events for which I’d prefer not to carry around a tablet-sized device.

There are tens of millions of iPhone users worldwide, and millions of those users may come to see the iPad as a practical means to enhance the usefulness of the phone they already own. There will also be tens of millions of new iPad users over the next 12 months. Of those new users, there are potentially millions who will see the iPhone as both a logical and natural next step in the iPad’s immersive experience.

Apple’s multi-product iOS paradigm may prove increasingly irresistible for users seeking to extend, expand, or enhance the usefulness of any one particular iOS-based device they own. A mutual halo effect among the devices should be expected.

Copyright © 2010 Robert Paul Leitao. Robert Paul Leitao is a contributing editor at ATPM and is author of the Posts At Eventide and The iPad Chronicles blogs.