software is awesome. I think its more that people just want something 'real' sometimes. I couldn't ever tell the difference, but having something tangible to manipulate is always attractive. In the live environment I want to see those boxes do their thing, not just a guy at a laptop (even though I know the laptop is pretty much essential) not because it 'real' over 'fake'.. it is just more interesting to me.
Ipad synths are awesome.. I personally prefer samplers and loopers, but being able to source synth riffs etc from one app then loop it and chop in another (like Samplr or Glitchbreaks) is so much fun.