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Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the original iPad 15 years ago today, marking one and a half decades of the company's "revolutionary" tablet.

original-ipad-2.jpg

Jobs unveiled the first-generation iPad at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on January 27, 2010. Designed to fill the gap between smartphones and laptops, the original iPad featured a 9.7-inch LED-backlit multitouch display, Apple's first custom designed chip, a 30-pin dock connector, and up to 64GB storage. With a starting price of $499, it offered users a new way to browse the web, read eBooks, watch videos, and interact with Apple's growing app ecosystem. Jobs described it as "a magical and revolutionary device."

iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price. iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.

The iPad used a version of iOS tailored for its larger display, bringing a big-screen experience to familiar mobile apps like Safari, Mail, and Photos. It introduced the iBooks app and iBookstore as part of an effort to compete in the e-reading space dominated by Amazon's Kindle. Its design was characterized by thick black bezels, a physical home button, and a convex aluminum back. It weighed 1.5 pounds and offered 10 hours of battery life.

The initial reception to the iPad was mixed. While many praised its lightweight computing and media consumption experience, others questioned its necessity and potential to replace laptops.

Nevertheless, the iPad sold over 300,000 units on its launch day in April 2010 and one million within its first month. It catalyzed the creation of a new product category, sparking competition from rivals such as Samsung, Microsoft, and Amazon. By the end of 2010, Apple had sold over 15 million iPads, generating $9.5 billion in revenue and solidifying the device as a key pillar of the company's product lineup.

The iPad has since become a tentpole device for Apple, expanding into product lines including the iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro and accessories such as the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard. Subsequent models introduced cameras, multitasking, different display size options, USB-C connectivity, and more. See Apple's original press release from 2010 for more information.

Article Link: Apple Announced the iPad 15 Years Ago Today
 
Was working the Apple Store back then (07-14). My roommate was the assistant store manager.

Night before this announcement, he was the closing manager and I was the closing Mac Genius. He was opening storage totes and containers somewhat absentmindedly in the manager's office and accidentally opened a sleeve marked "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL NOON EST ON JAN 27, 2010"

Out flew a display cardboard poster intended for the front of the store saying something like "Meet the iPad this April!"

Annnnnnnnd yeah, for 12 hours we knew the name and saw the face of the tablet. Basically before anyone outside Infinite Loop. We went to grab a late dinner and were like "man it's like a big iPhone, cool star trail wallpaper too... MacRumors would go nuts."
 
Probably my favorite current device of theirs to use. (Typed from an M2 iPad Pro) Close competition but yeah… I remember being pretty young and being asked if I wanted a first gen but saying I didn’t want one until they added a camera. Got a 2nd gen the next year for my birthday. :)
 
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I still think what I thought then - it's a large iPhone. Nothing has changed that. Apple has tried multiple times over the years to change the narrative on the iPad and try to shoehorn it into a certain category, but at the end of the day it is just an oversized iPhone. Apart from very niche areas, like pilots, it is a big media consumption device. It is not a full computer replacement. Does it have the power to be? Yes. But Apple continues to gimp it with iPad OS. People still firmly use laptops and desktops to get most work done efficiently, and iPads are relegated to watching media or reading or drawing, or just shoving in front of young kids faces to shut them up for awhile. Also, the iPad lineup has become a massive confusing mess.
 
"It's just a big iPod/iPhone"
"Why would I want this if I already have an iPhone?"
Etc.

On the other hand, it launched without a front-facing camera (and breakdowns soon revealed there was a dedicated space for one- so it was a plan not executed for whatever reason). But the fans spun the stupidity of such a camera in lines something like "why would someone want to look up my nose in video calls?"... tons of "nose hair" comments and, of course, "wobbly" (video calls because- apparently- we can only hold an iPhone or Mac perfectly stable)...

...UNTIL... the very next year when the standout feature of iPad 2 was... you guessed it... and then Fans spun THAT as the signature reason why "everyone should upgrade."

My cellular iPad Mini doubles as my phone (buds with VOIP app) and is as important to me as anyone else's iPhone is to them. Not sure whether it or AppleTV is my absolute favorite Apple product but I'm very glad Apple opted to create and roll out that first iPad to eventually lead to Mini and this 2-in-1 device that scratches both itches so well for my purposes.
 
I remember how much shock there was at the $500 price. Almost no one was expecting it to be that low of a price. Here we are 15 years later, still able to buy a great iPad for about that price.

It's great for media consumption but also for drawing, note taking (easily 1/3 of my university students have one for notes), and a lot of other work. It's not for everyone, but I find it's a nice complement to my laptop and phone.
 
This is one of the products that I sometimes like to go back to the original MacRumors articles from its release and read the comments calling it a stupid product and claiming it’ll fail.

First comment:
"Sounds very revolutionary to me. :mad:

hey - heres an idea Apple - rather than enter the world of gimmicks and toys, why dont you spend a little more time sorting out your pathetically expensive and crap server line up? :mad:
or are you really aiming to become a glorified consumer gimmicks firm?:mad:"

And a few comments later someone even said:
"Still no Flash eh?:mad:"

This is a funny hobby.
But to be fair, most people complained that it was basically just a big iPhone with less capabilities which, you know... is kinda great.
 
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