Projects vs. Action groups
 

I find this whole differentiation between projects and action groups makes no sense - why are they treated differently when they are the same thing? They are just a container for further projects or actions.

I realise this is more a general OF point than a specific iPad one, but the problem really comes to the fore on the iPad. This arbitrary differentiation means certain functions that should be available for both objects are only available for one.

[B]Sequential vs Parallel[/B] - this setting should apply to both; currently you have to use a crazy workaround to change this setting for action groups
[B]New Item creation[/B] - from the tap-and-hold menu - should apply to both, not just projects, otherwise you have to create an item and move it into position, rather than just creating it where you need it.
[B]Move to / Select Project[/B] - unless you cut'n'paste (which seems like a UI workaround to me) you have to do two separate operations to move an item out of the Inbox and into a project's structure...

What am I missing?

I don't think you're missing anything. OG just didn't have time to implement some of those features for the initial release. The distinction between projects and action groups goes back to design decisions in the original Mac app. They've been slowly eliminating the differences over time, but there's a lot of inertia now with three apps in the family.

The underlying model is supposed to be revamped in 2.0 so that you can put individual actions on hold, etc. But as Ken said the other day, OF 2.0 is not imminent at this point (it had been slated for sometime this year, prior to Apple springing the iPad on us).

Cool, thanks for the insight. Backwards-compatibility is the biggest barrier to progress, huh :)

Not sure it's a matter of backwards compatibility, even — we don't know that the new model code is complete and robust, or that the details of the UI have been worked out in sufficient detail that they would be happy implementing something for the iPad now without possibly painting themselves into a corner with later software.