How do you think the iPad would be different if it was released BEFORE the iPhone?

[justinfreid]

Looking at screenshots of the homescreen on the iPad it's obvious Apple could have done more with the 1024x768 resolution besides creating a stretched out version of iPhone's. If not for the precedent set by the iPhone do you think the iPad's homescreen would be designed as it is?
Or would the device have the rocker switch which now locks the screen rotation?
Would Apple have made the device single-task only?
Or did the iPhone pave the way for the iPad in such a way that the yet to be released magicPad couldn't have come first?

 

[macuserx86]

it would have been MAGICAL

 

[justinfreid]

it would have been MAGICAL

Yeah, Mr. Ives has an Apple birthmark just where Harry Potter's lightning bolt is that he covers with makeup for media appearances

 

[MacFan23]

I think I remember reading that the iPhone was a result of developing the iPad.

 

[goobot]

people would not be so pissy at the ipad and would be at the iphone

 

[pirateRACE]

I've thought about this a lot. I agree that the iPad is the endgame. Jobs was rumored to have said that this was the thing he was the most proud of. I think if the iPad would have came before the iPhone, it would have been a massive failure. While some still think it will be, I don't. Developing a phone with a simple interface made sense. Now that 75 million people have iPhones and iPod Touches, there are 140k apps in the App Store and every other consumer electronics company is grasping to the minimized touch interface in there devices, the iPad makes sense as the next evolution... even though it was probably the point all along.

Just my 2¢.

 

[wyneken]

people would not be so pissy at the ipad and would be at the iphone

I think these folks would be pissy about anything with an Apple logo. They've been like this since the Apple II, and maybe they were like this before that. I imagine they teased Woz pretty badly back in grade school.

 

[d0mth0ma5]

Firstly it probably wouldn't have such ferocious pre-orders. People would be more wary about the interface and non-full-osx browser. I still think it would've done ok though, pre-iPod however that thing would've had no chance...

 

[kevink2]

It may have been more like a desktop, like Tablet PCs with Windows, where you run across the limitations more because the applications were designed around a keyboard and mouse.

 

[4DThinker]

The result would be exactly the same. Those wanting one would buy one. Those not wanting one would not buy one. The UI would be different, and probably better though. Copying from the iPhone results in what looks to me like a UI not optimized for the bigger screen.

 

[blackNBUK]

Overall I don't think the iPad would be very different if it had come out first. The iPad is what Apple thinks a tablet computing appliance should be like. The choices that they made about things like unrestrained multitasking and the AppStore weren't made because they were being lazy or difficult. They made those decisions because they believe that they make the product better for the majority of it's users. Some of the minor details (like the home screen design) may have been different but I think the major decisions would have been the same.

However where the iPhone has helped massively is in paving the way for the iPad. The iPhone has got a lot of people comfortable doing computing tasks on a device that doesn't have a keyboard and mouse. It also has introduced the idea that some of furniture of a desktop OS is not fundamentally necessary for all computing devices.

 

[santaliqueur]

I would have never ordered an iPad if it was developed before the iPhone. I would have scoffed at the non-OS X interface, and wondered what the point of it was. Now that I know what it is capable of (as much as possible without using one), I really want one. I will mostly use it for apps on a large screen, something I would have not known about if the iPad was the first display of the app store.

 

[MrMacintoshBlog]

it would have been MAGICAL

LOL!!!!

 

[ThatsMeRight]

I would have never ordered an iPad if it was developed before the iPhone. I would have scoffed at the non-OS X interface, and wondered what the point of it was. Now that I know what it is capable of (as much as possible without using one), I really want one. I will mostly use it for apps on a large screen, something I would have not known about if the iPad was the first display of the app store.

I think this is the best answer on this question so far.

 

[justinfreid]

I would have never ordered an iPad if it was developed before the iPhone. I would have scoffed at the non-OS X interface, and wondered what the point of it was. Now that I know what it is capable of (as much as possible without using one), I really want one. I will mostly use it for apps on a large screen, something I would have not known about if the iPad was the first display of the app store.

This is what I was wondering. It seems easier to sell the watered down OS X interface on an iPhone and then parlay that onto a bigger device as Apple did. I wonder if Apple's product release arch is such that the public at large is gradually conditioned to the advances in both hardware and software and that as much profit as possible can be made along the way.

 

[SteveSparks]

I think I remember reading that the iPhone was a result of developing the iPad.

I was wondering that also.