Apple's iPad Turns 16 Today

[bluecoast]

And it's a shame that they hobbled it until very recently, which is why I never bought one...

...And still won't until they add multi user support.

Y'know, like UNIX had in the early 1970s.

 

[ScanTheNavian]

The question remains: are we going to have an iPad-price moment with Apple’s foldable?

That would honestly be earth-shattering. But I think they'll wait for that moment whenever Apple Glasses hit the market. That wearable segment is where I think future computing will be and if Apple can take a hold of it then the sky will be the limit for them.

 

[jakebrosy]

Hubs got me an original iPad on release day. It is still purring along as a music player in my studio.

 

[tomtad]

Sixteen years later not a thing has changed.

I still think the original vision for the iPad, the affordable, easy to use, touch device for reading and browsing the web on the couch is its best use. Larger phones have encroached on this territory but it is still nice just to sit with something larger to read, or watch a movie.

For more professional applications, drawing is the one that stands out and it makes total sense for an iPad to accompany a Mac for this. What I don’t understand why Apple have gone for things like Final Cut on a iPad.

 

[hieranonymous]

I remember during that last year of his life, when he would occasionally respond to emails from the general public, those emails would almost always end with “Sent from my iPad.”

 

[Spinarelo]

I remember thinking "this is the stupidest thing ever, it's just a blown up iPhone"..... Yeah I was young and naive 🤣

 

[roklanhavok]

I used mine for way too long. I think that's when I learned to upgrade sooner, I will always upgrade devices that don't run the latest OS.

 

[chrono1081]

I'll never forget before the announcement my friend in the office was like "I don't care whatever Apple is coming out with, all I want is a slab of screen that I can play games, use the internet and apps, and watch movies on..."

Then the iPad got announced minutes later and he never bought one.

 

[TechRunner]

I bought one on sale the year after it was released and it quickly became my favorite reading tool. My current M3 Air carries on that tradition today.

 

[MilaM]

According to Wikipedia, the original (1st gen) iPad only received two major iOS upgrades. Is that true?

I had one, and it was the only time when Apple could convince me to buy a first generation product from them. It was quite revolutionary back then.

 

[Zenman12]

I find giving products birthdays, let alone companies, very odd.

 

[Deedlez]

I'm in the UK, and the original iPad didn't launch here for a while.

But I was just too tempted, so ended up buying one off a pilot - exchanging money for said iPad in a car park one dark night. Sounds like a recipe for a mugging, but it all went well and I loved that first iPad and used it a lot.

Yet it was really bulky, had a fairly low-res screen and no cameras.

Since then the iPad became the best travelling tech, so I've owned a few more models. The iPad Air 2 was amazing, I used that for years and passed it on to the kids where it was used for several more.

Currently using the 13" iPad Pro M2 (I think it's M2 anyway...) and on occasion it has stood in for "proper" laptops. Still can't quite do everything I need though...

 

[AppleMega]

My first iPad was a cellular iPad 3, many years ago. I used it now and then for a year or two. But like many, I deemed it "just a big iPhone" and stuck with my MacBook Pro/iPhone combo. My next iPad was the current iPad mini. Getting Apple Pencil Pro support got me. Love it. Use it mainly for content consumption, note taking, and sketching. MacBook Pro/iPhone is still my primary productivity combo.

 

[Ja50n]

I remember when the iPad first launched and most people said it was just a big iPod Touch...
And to be fair, it basically was!

It took a time for it to carve out its own niche.

Seems like by the second generation they had nailed it, and it just took software improvements from there. iPad 2 kept selling for years…

 

[smithrh]

Told this story before but I got an iPad on launch day, took it to dinner with a bud to show it to him and then a neighboring table was so enamored with it they asked to see it, then another table next to them asked them to see it and after a while I realized I'd have to go claim it before it got lost...

Still have it, but besides another iPad I bought for extremely causal use 5 years ago, I find I don't use iPads that much lol.

 

[Agent007]

Seems like only yesterday people were mocking it as essentially just a big iPhone and insisting it would flop. I guess they were wrong.

They were wrong that it would flop. IMO the "big iPhone" comparison has proved more real than I expected: Apple still dictating how it's used despite marketing it as though the computing capabilities are on par with Mac. Newsflash: they aren't.

 

[ctg7w6]

I bought one the day it came. Transformed my reading, I switched from physical books to reading digitally.

Over the years I’ve tried to do more with it than that. And sometimes it works out. But mostly it is just easier to do most of my tasks on my MacBook. I’d love to get rid of the MacBook, but it is just more efficient for my workflow.

I primarily use my iPad now for reading books (a large part of my job). Which is exactly what I was using it for 16 years ago to the day.

I know the iPad can do much much much more than it could 16 years ago. But in my own experience (and I’m not talking about anyone else’s experience), the iPad is fundamentally the same as it was 16 years ago.

Again, in my own experience, not trying to start a debate here. I KNOW there are plenty of people who can get by with just an iPad or for whom the iPad replaced many functions of their MacBooks.

 

[baryon]

Steve introduced the iPad as the future of computing, as if it would one day replace computers for most people. Interestingly, it doesn't seem to have happened. In fact, most people who use the iPad as an everyday device will buy a keyboard case that has a trackpad... turning it into a laptop. The iPad, as-is, is good for certain specific tasks but it's terrible for most tasks. Have you ever tried downloading a file sent to you through Google Drive, moving that file into a specific folder and opening that file in a specific app, quickly? Yeah good luck, that's impossible to do. This is the kind of thing the average person does multiple times every day, and you just can't do it on the iPad without going insane.

The iPad has replaced pen and paper notebooks for me, and I like to use it to view PDFs on the go, especially when I can't sit down. For everything else I will always go to my iPhone or my Mac. The Mac is just more comfortable and can do complex tasks more easily, the iPhone is easier to hold and simpler to use for basic tasks. There aren't really tasks that are moderately complex that the iPad is good at. Multi tasking without a working file browser is a joke. Window management on a tiny screen with a large touch UI is a joke.

 

[thefredelement]

My first iPad was the (3rd gen I think) retina iPad, it was incredible to have a screen look like that at the time, I think it was 2012.

I got a few upgrades over the years, I forget the model but one was super light and space gray, it was awesome.

Then I got the first iPad Pro with a pencil and it was a 'game changer' for me. I constantly write things down and make sketches and would lose them all time, since then its just been all Apple Notes, I've had the original iPad Pro, then the M2 and now the M5, they're awesome devices.

 

[AltecX]

I remember being a doubter as to how big the iPad would really be. I wasn't huge on tablets in general at that point. Years later I can easily say I was wrong and that they truly do fill a niche between phone and Laptop, its just not a niche that everyone needs, and it's a niche that fill the need of a full PC for other.

I wish I could live these older tech times again. They are full of so much nostalgia for me. Basically, everything from 1995~2010 reminds me of MUCH better times than now, and I don't mean regarding anything in the US currently. I just mean as a whole. If I could go back in time those are the 15 years, I'd love to experience on repeat again.

Nostalgia man, hell of a drug.

 

[AltecX]

Steve introduced the iPad as the future of computing, as if it would one day replace computers for most people. Interestingly, it doesn't seem to have happened. In fact, most people who use the iPad as an everyday device will buy a keyboard case that has a trackpad... turning it into a laptop. The iPad, as-is, is good for certain specific tasks but it's terrible for most tasks. Have you ever tried downloading a file sent to you through Google Drive, moving that file into a specific folder and opening that file in a specific app, quickly? Yeah good luck, that's impossible to do. This is the kind of thing the average person does multiple times every day, and you just can't do it on the iPad without going insane.

The iPad has replaced pen and paper notebooks for me, and I like to use it to view PDFs on the go, especially when I can't sit down. For everything else I will always go to my iPhone or my Mac. The Mac is just more comfortable and can do complex tasks more easily, the iPhone is easier to hold and simpler to use for basic tasks. There aren't really tasks that are moderately complex that the iPad is good at. Multi tasking without a working file browser is a joke. Window management on a tiny screen with a large touch UI is a joke.

Many people I know don't need a PC and some don't because they do all they need to on an iPad. Most people just need email, minor document work and a web browser. All of that you can easily do on an iPad, you just may also need a KB case. I actually struggle, to think of something you NEED to use a regular computer for outside of heavy image/video work, 3D work, AAA games. Most of those are not something a normal person are doing at home.

The iPad CAN replace a computer for probably most people. That doesn't mean they want it to or its the BEST solution, just a very capable one.

 

[Mega ST]

Having enjoyed my original iPad mini back then for the size and portability I was interested in one of the current iPads for toying around with the pen and trying to paint. But this is much too expensive and I put the money in a better MBP configuration. It should be priced like an affordable netbook.

Below the line to me it is not a "real computer" but a supersized phone with not the fully capable OS. And I will need a built in keyboard. Not those aftermarket foil ones (tried one).

I am aware how many professional environments rely on the iPad these days.

 

[JM]

It’s my birthday too! If anyone cares… 😳😓

Happy birthday!

Let’s all go by an iPad to celebrate 🎉

 

[TMRJIJ]

It’s my birthday too! If anyone cares… 😳😓

It was my birthday too 7 days ago ! If anyone cares… 😳😓

Happy Birthday 🎁🎉

I would send you both brand new iPads, however, I’m broke and I don’t know you.

 

[AlexESP]

Steve introduced the iPad as the future of computing, as if it would one day replace computers for most people. Interestingly, it doesn't seem to have happened. In fact, most people who use the iPad as an everyday device will buy a keyboard case that has a trackpad... turning it into a laptop. The iPad, as-is, is good for certain specific tasks but it's terrible for most tasks. Have you ever tried downloading a file sent to you through Google Drive, moving that file into a specific folder and opening that file in a specific app, quickly? Yeah good luck, that's impossible to do. This is the kind of thing the average person does multiple times every day, and you just can't do it on the iPad without going insane.

The iPad has replaced pen and paper notebooks for me, and I like to use it to view PDFs on the go, especially when I can't sit down. For everything else I will always go to my iPhone or my Mac. The Mac is just more comfortable and can do complex tasks more easily, the iPhone is easier to hold and simpler to use for basic tasks. There aren't really tasks that are moderately complex that the iPad is good at. Multi tasking without a working file browser is a joke. Window management on a tiny screen with a large touch UI is a joke.

We don’t know how many people buy keyboards for the iPad — I guess it’s a clear minority. We know that the iPad sales volume is much higher than the Mac’s.

The iPad hasn’t reach a broader audience, not because it can’t “match” a Mac, but because the iPhone has become the main (and sometimes, only) computer for most people. The future of computer was not the iPad, but the iPhone.

Of course I personally need a Mac for work, but I disagree on “the iPad terrible for most tasks”. Whenever there’s something I can do on the iPad, I prefer to do it there: browsing, reading PDFs, notes, etc. A traditional computer is just much more awkward, more file-oriented than task-oriented. These tasks don’t cover the majority of what I need (I use my iPad for brainstorming, reading…), but they do for most people. And the comfort of the iPad compensates the occasional downside of having to move a file from Google Drive.