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Apple Announced the iPad 15 Years Ago Today
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Incredible how the iPad has evolved 15 years ago into the product it is today, with the M4 iPP essentially being their most technologically cutting edge product. If it allowed one to boot into Mac OS it would be the best product they ever made, but iPad OS is still good though, smooth, snappy and very polished. A lot of people on here laugh at it as a laptop replacement, but for me personally with the MKB I use it way more than the 2 MBP's we have at home (2015 model and MBP 13 M2).
Gave a first generation to my then 80 year father-in-law. He used it for many year before getting a Mac Book Air.
I had the first generation and skipped years as it was improved. I always got the cellular version and max memory. I jumped on the first 11" M1 Pro version and got the 11" M2 Pro when it came out which I gave to my oldest son when I got the M4 11" Pro with max memory. It is my airline device as it fits on the ever shrinking fold down surface.
I have had all the mini iPads over the years and my wife has also used them. She uses hers daily for mental exercises after we both were hit as pedestrians by a car and she had a TBI. It is perfect device for the doctor visits etc where one has to sit there and wait your turn.
As one gets older, the simpleness of devices becomes more important. While I started in computers in the 1970s, the brain power then was more than I have today. So simple beats complexity for me now.
I had the first generation and skipped years as it was improved. I always got the cellular version and max memory. I jumped on the first 11" M1 Pro version and got the 11" M2 Pro when it came out which I gave to my oldest son when I got the M4 11" Pro with max memory. It is my airline device as it fits on the ever shrinking fold down surface.
I have had all the mini iPads over the years and my wife has also used them. She uses hers daily for mental exercises after we both were hit as pedestrians by a car and she had a TBI. It is perfect device for the doctor visits etc where one has to sit there and wait your turn.
As one gets older, the simpleness of devices becomes more important. While I started in computers in the 1970s, the brain power then was more than I have today. So simple beats complexity for me now.
It was a first gen product. But it was also a big iPhone, so it took advantage of existing iPhone technology.
At the time my take on it was that it was for all the things you would do on your iPhone if it had a bigger screen.
I wanted it of course, and I got one. I took it to work (I lived in Texas, but worked in England). A coworker said her husband was obsessed with it, but they weren’t available yet in England. She said he had cut out a picture from a magazine so he could practice gestures. I gave her my box that the iPad had come in. It had an actual size picture of the device.
The first iPad was really heavy. It weighed about as much as an apple Vision Pro, and it didn’t even have straps! I’m composing this on an Apple Vision Pro, and I can’t imagine having to carry one around. At the time, I didn’t know any better. Thankfully, subsequent versions of the iPad were thinner and less weighty. Fingers crossed for future AVP models.
At the time my take on it was that it was for all the things you would do on your iPhone if it had a bigger screen.
I wanted it of course, and I got one. I took it to work (I lived in Texas, but worked in England). A coworker said her husband was obsessed with it, but they weren’t available yet in England. She said he had cut out a picture from a magazine so he could practice gestures. I gave her my box that the iPad had come in. It had an actual size picture of the device.
The first iPad was really heavy. It weighed about as much as an apple Vision Pro, and it didn’t even have straps! I’m composing this on an Apple Vision Pro, and I can’t imagine having to carry one around. At the time, I didn’t know any better. Thankfully, subsequent versions of the iPad were thinner and less weighty. Fingers crossed for future AVP models.
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Of the many tragic things about Jobs’ untimely demise, one of the biggest ripple effects comes from the fact that he dropped the iPad on the world but didn’t get to see his vision through.
It’s like he kicked over the anthill of the tech world, everyone especially Microsoft lost their minds about it and scrambled everything to copy it. They irreparably damaged Windows in the process.
But all these years later it doesn’t live up to its potential. The Microsoft Surface, for all its flaws, is an actual tablet computer today. The iPad is still…just a big iPhone. I can feel the downvotes coming, but that’s exactly what it is. It’s stuck somewhere between being a large iPhone and a very limited Mac.
Look at the iPad today and tell me this is what Steve intended for it.
I wish I could believe that Apple believes that. They keep making the Mac more like the iPad.
Apple never designed this to replace a computer.
I don’t think we really know that.
If you look at how the Mac was getting treated in the mid 2010s it certainly looked like there was a hope at Apple that iOS and iPads would have completely replaced the Mac at one point
For some users they effectively have. My mom gets by pretty happily on a cellular iPad... but she's retired. Our facilities team at work is iPad only. Works really well for their use case.
Agreed… I have some senior relatives who are in the same boat and iPad only.
Honestly, they could use an even larger iPad
The Surface is just a laptop. A good one, according to some people. The iPad is a completely different product. And with much bigger success in the market.
SJ explained that the iPad should be a product that does some things better than the iPhone and the Mac. And that’s what it is.
He didn’t want to be a “tablet computer” in the way you mean it. That concept has been tried again and again, and has failed for multiple reasons (bad UX of desktop UI with touchscreens, unfitting hardware for desktop use cases, etc.)
To me, what’s limited is a tablet pretending to be a laptop, which results in a much worse experience. The iPad is a device that really takes advantage of its hardware.
I’ve had an iPad of one size or another since the first. I use my laptop for old comic book PDFs that have never scaled well on any iPad, but for everything else I use my mini 7.
How do you know what Steve "intended" for it? Do you have inside information that was shared with you 15 years ago by Mr. Jobs?
My iPads fit my tablet needs perfectly; being battery operated for content consumption and light computing for when I'm riding the train or sitting my easy chair at home.
I also have a desktop computer with a large display, a keyboard with numeric pad, a mouse, and a five drive disk container for more serious stationary computing.
I believe Steve knew how a battery powered tablet would be useful for mobile computing and information/content consumption/research/etc., vs how a stationary computer is typically used.
Apple does make laptop computers for those who need more than what a tablet offers in mobile/temporary situations. I use those when I need more than a tablet.
15 years later and there are still so many things that flash could do that is so much harder now. Embedded layer videos with live mask and on the fly and coded editing for example.
Actually, the iPad is quite literally what Job's intended. Watch the launch presentation 15 years ago. He specifically described the iPad as a device that sits between an iPhone and a MacBook. There is even a graphic that shows this in the presentation.
I would add that the iPad was clearly Apple's answer to Netbooks, which Job's described in the presentation as poorly built crummy cheap laptops that aren't good at anything. Steve would never build something of low quality, and he said the iPad needed to be better than a laptop at certain things; watching video, enjoying photos, surfing the web, scanning emails, battery life, portability etc.. Otherwise, it had no reason to exist. All of this is in the launch presentation.
There is no hint that he viewed the iPad as a laptop replacement. He intended the iPad to be a third device.
BTW - I believe that the iPad has become much more capable, and for some people it can replace their need for a laptop for mobile computing. I would venture to guess that many of these people still have a desktop computer for heavy lifting and some intensive multi-tasking activities. So, in that case, Job's vision still applies....the iPad is a third device.
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I still remember all the rumors in late 2009 about Apple developing a tablet, and sure enough they turned out to be true. The original iPad was fundamentally a big iPod Touch, with the cellular model being like a big iPhone without the camera.
A photo from my former job of me wiping and resetting first-generation iPads. I also remember one of my aunts got one in 2010. My mom was impressed by it, and so for Mother's Day in 2011 we got her a second-generation iPad. She loved it so much, though by late 2020 she was getting frustrated at not being able to use the latest apps and games, so for Mother's Day 2021 me and my brother upgraded her to an 8th-generation iPad. And soon that inspired me to buy one from my company; right now I'm using a 4th generation gold iPad Air, a cellular 256 GB model (but I disabled cellular service on it, since I don't need another one besides my iPhone right now). It's great for web browsing and watching videos and email and instant messaging when I'm at conventions, or even if I'm waiting for my mechanic to finish a job with my car (like changing the oil every six months).
I also remember when the iPad first came out, I saw lots of comparisons of it to Penny's computer book from the original "Inspector Gadget".
So on my iPad, I found wallpaper based on inside Penny's computer book to use with it!
A photo from my former job of me wiping and resetting first-generation iPads. I also remember one of my aunts got one in 2010. My mom was impressed by it, and so for Mother's Day in 2011 we got her a second-generation iPad. She loved it so much, though by late 2020 she was getting frustrated at not being able to use the latest apps and games, so for Mother's Day 2021 me and my brother upgraded her to an 8th-generation iPad. And soon that inspired me to buy one from my company; right now I'm using a 4th generation gold iPad Air, a cellular 256 GB model (but I disabled cellular service on it, since I don't need another one besides my iPhone right now). It's great for web browsing and watching videos and email and instant messaging when I'm at conventions, or even if I'm waiting for my mechanic to finish a job with my car (like changing the oil every six months).
I also remember when the iPad first came out, I saw lots of comparisons of it to Penny's computer book from the original "Inspector Gadget".
So on my iPad, I found wallpaper based on inside Penny's computer book to use with it!
I remember being skeptical when it came out. I didn't hate it but didn't know if I'd ever use one. I still ordered a top of the line one with the keyboard dock because I had a real job back then and the price was a drop in the bucket and as soon as it arrived I was smitten. I remember writing my final college papers on it and replacing my eeePC for travel with it.
I’ve always thought they were amazing though never useful for my daily needs. Why limit such powerful hardware to a simple phone OS. It makes even less sense today.