iPad Launched 10 Years Ago Today, App Developer Reflects on Getting Access to a Top-Secret Prototype

[aksala]

To me the iPad is still the most exciting product that Apple has launched in 10 years. I'd say (to me) the iPad was even more exciting at the time than the iPhone was in 2007. I remember my parents got an iPad in May 2010 and I was in awe at the beautiful screen at the time. Things just looked better all around than on the iPhone. Loved the stock wallpaper too.

 

[venom600]

I don’t understand the “it’s just a big iPod touch” argument.

The experience is TOTALLY different on a larger screen. Consuming content, reading, watching movies... Yeah it may have the same apps, but you could fit way more on the screen.

Was it really? That's like saying a Mac Mini with a 720p screen is totally different than one with a 4k screen. Yes, the resolution is higher but you were using the same apps, as you said, the interface was nearly identical, and there were no iPad specific features that we have today. It was functionally an iPod Touch with a bigger screen.

 

[Mainsail]

Was it really? That's like saying a Mac Mini with a 720p screen is totally different than one with a 4k screen. Yes, the resolution is higher but you were using the same apps, as you said, the interface was nearly identical, and there were no iPad specific features that we have today. It was functionally an iPod Touch with a bigger screen.

We need to remember that the largest iPhone screen was 3.5 inch in 2010. So, using your analogy, it was more like going from a 13.3 in laptop screen to a desktop with a 24 inch monitor. There are some things that are just painful with less screen real estate. If screen size didn‘t add useful functionality, people would not invest hundreds of dollars in external displays.

The original iPad was a response to the popularity of netbooks. It was designed to address many routine tasks: mail, web browsing, photos, video, calendar, contacts, and books. Apple also created iWork apps especially for iPad. Frankly, the productivity experience was not great, but just by virtue of the extra screen size, you could write a simple letter or memo on the iPad that would be painful or impossible to accomplish on a phone.

 

[Kramerjn]

We need to remember that the largest iPhone screen was 3.5 inch in 2010. So, using your analogy, it was more like going from a 13.3 in laptop screen to a desktop with a 24 inch monitor. There are some things that are just painful with less screen real estate. If screen size didn‘t add useful functionality, people would not invest hundreds of dollars in external displays.

The original iPad was a response to the popularity of netbooks. It was designed to address many routine tasks: mail, web browsing, photos, video, calendar, contacts, and books. Apple also created iWork apps especially for iPad. Frankly, the productivity experience was not great, but just by virtue of the extra screen size, you could write a simple letter or memo on the iPad that would be painful or impossible to accomplish on a phone.

I had someone I used to work with tell me every chance he got that the iPad would never make it because netbooks were just too good.

 

[pshifrin]

My son and I at the launch of the original and then the 2018 IPP.

 

[newyorksole]

Was it really? That's like saying a Mac Mini with a 720p screen is totally different than one with a 4k screen. Yes, the resolution is higher but you were using the same apps, as you said, the interface was nearly identical, and there were no iPad specific features that we have today. It was functionally an iPod Touch with a bigger screen.

If Apple told you that you could upgrade your non-Retina iPod touch to a Retina iPod touch or to a non-Retina iPad, what would you choose?

The large screen that you can do more and see more on is very different (and to a lot of people, more valuable) than a tiny screen with better resolution.

Yeah they may have the same apps and wallpapers, but the experience and usability changes COMPLETELY.

 

[demodave]

I don’t understand the “it’s just a big iPod touch” argument.

The experience is TOTALLY different on a larger screen. Consuming content, reading, watching movies... Yeah it may have the same apps, but you could fit way more on the screen.

Small-minded people are gonna think small. When they look a a big iPad, they think "big iPod Touch".

Large-minded people think big. When they look at a big iPad, they see an 8.5" x 11"m or a canvas or something more...

Small-minded people are gonna thinks small.

I wish I could have fit that into a haiku.

I would also like to second the observation that others have made about the addition of a pen, a precision touch-pointing tool. I have also been seeing more and more writing pens with a ballpoint on one end and a soft squishy pointing "ball" on the other end. I hope I'll get better at recognizing these in the near future, but they are kinda neat.

It seems pretty obvious to me that there is a lot of room for the touchscreen to grow in usefullness and economy over the next 2 to 5 to 10 years. Even if that is not all Apple, there will be very favorable tailwinds for Apple, and Apple will beat the competition beating upwind when it has to.

 

[jouster]

It was just a big iPod Touch, which was why it was so good. Even in 2010, it did enough light email and basic productivity stuff that I could get by with it on short business trips. And all the other iPhone OS stuff, of course. And the batteries lasted forever.

Works almost perfectly today with one weird exception: the sound only comes out of one speaker/earbud. This is the case using the 3.5mm jack (remember them? :-| ) or the 30-pin connector. There doesn't seem to be any setting for audio balance anywhere. Oh well...

I still use it with a keyboard for IRC.