[eluser]spider pig[/eluser]
The access to the database is all done on the web server. The web browser should not effect database access.
I use Safari as my default web browser in my development environment without any problems.
I have not had much experience with the iPad but I have an iPhone and I have noticed that the fonts display differently for some web sites. If the web site is designed well, this should not be a problem.
Back to your database issue, I'd say it was a problem with the web server at the time.