Don't Forget About the iPad, Folks

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- In reporting on Apple's(AAPL) robust second-quarter earnings, it was all iPhone, all the time.

"Apple Rides iPhone Frenzy" and "Apple's earnings surge as iPhone sales top target," said The Wall Street Journal and Marketwatch in representative headlines. Here's the deal, though: the iPad, often mentioned as mere afterthought (if that), might determine Apple's next few quarters. It offered one cause for concern, harnessed to two legitimate caveats and a huge bit of opportunity.

That's complex, risky stuff...and the media all but skipped over it.

In a fairly sizeable story entitled "Apple rises after iPhone boosts profit," Reuters, for example, does not even mention the iPad. Not once. Investor's Business Daily mentions the iPad, but only to pass along raw sales numbers, growth rates and happy comments from Apple officials.

Barron's got right to the concern, pointing out that Apple "sold 11.8 million iPads, lower than some estimates for 12 million to 13 million units." Barron's unfortunately left it at that.