[wongarsu]

The disk with your playstation game is pressed as a copy of a master disk that was created by a computer. In contrast, an iPad is connected via radio waves to a transmitter that is connected via cables to computers.

The only difference is the transport medium used for the computer-computer connection.

At least on Android Tablets there's also nothing really stopping me from buying a USB-stick with games and installing them, without any computers involved after the stick's creation (I would have to get a friend to create it and sell it to me, but the lack of market demand, and thus supply, is besides the point).

[Retric]

If every other computer in the world was off you could still load and play a game on a PlayStation. That's a difference in kind.

The reality is there are tablets are a third option between a standalone computer which could be programmed by hand and an dumb terminal.