A bit OT, but I don't really get the need for a tablet specific design apart from the desktop site in general (I'd see why gestures for e.g. would be tablet specific, but almost no site with iPad specific versions use them). What would be the hurdles to have the same version for tablets and desktops, and a more reduced version for mobiles? It would force a very discoverable page design, no plugins required, and a lot of side benefits from the design POV in my opinion.
We used gestures and a whole slew of iPad-specific media queries and rendering logic on bostonglobe.com. While I agree that you can usually write a lot of common desktop/tablet code in a responsive design, adding tablet-specific (or iPad-specific) features in a responsive design is a big selling point to your typical executive-type.
(Dislaimer: I used to be an engineer at the Boston Globe)
