The overall pressures should be the same, its just how fast they can get there.Of course at some point in time, you need to be able to compress enough volume to overcome the pressure already in the fork/shock/tire, etc.
I think Boyles Law would apply here.
A low volume pump, such as a shock pump will allow finer degree of pressure differences since it cant compress or reduce as large a volume of air, and in turn wont produce as much pressure.
A tire pump on the other hand, will compress more at a given time, meaning that it can reduce the volume of air more, leading to more pressure out.
I think that both pumps would reach the same outcome. I would probably assume that the designers of such pumps would be able to "valve" the pump to allow the user to switch between two settings that would allow tire inflation or a shock/fork inflation. Or maybe the valving is internal and dependent on the pressure it sees. When it sees a low pressure such as a bike tire 2-50 psi, it behaves one way, and when it sees a high pressure such as 100-140 psi for a shock or fork, it would behave another way?
Who knows?
Ok wierd, just found this thread on a google search, but didnt find it using the search on the forum???
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=4111138