You're right too, when I started development I'd just bought the iPad and there weren't a lot of quality games on the device. Especially games that weren't just scaled up iPhone games.
My reasoning was if I could get a decent game out in 3 months, even though there were less devices, I would have less competition for attention on the iPad.
When the iPod came out, there was an ecosystem of iPod-related websites that emerged that was distinct from the Apple/Mac web.
When the iPhone came out, another entire ecosystem developed. iPhone-specific sites. The existing iPod sites weren't the ones to gain popularity.
The iPad, however, didn't spawn a significant iPad-specific ecosystem of websites. Instead, it was absorbed within the Apple/iPhone sites, for whatever reason. As a result, I think iPad coverage is harder to come by and is a bit more mixed with everything else.
The iPhone and iPad are almost identical. There are plenty in the community who have made the divide between the products. Even if you can manage to get coverage on a site that blends iPhone/iPad coverage that is just fine (I've had this happen, sales went from around 40 to 180). I also consider it a huge benefit to get my brand in front of iPhone only users. It's likely that they'll know friends with an iPad and/or they may become a fan (fb, twitter, newsletter) in anticipation for an iPhone version.
iPhone and iPad coverage is hard in general. Getting my latest product out there has been a huge pain. Originally released on iPad, I had little coverage. I have yet to get coverage on the iPhone, though, it's still early. It's incredibly important that you spend time building relationships with editors, but that's far easier said than done.