Seven Years Ago Today: Steve Jobs Introduces the iPad

[harriska2]

So does the iPad from 7 years ago do anything different then the current iPad does? Has Apple done anything new with the iPad? IMO no.
Again just another category where Apple is falling short.

We've had 9 ipads in our household - 3 ipad 1s, ipad 3, ipad air, air 2, 2 ipad pro 12.9. I use them as books, video watching, web surfing, etc.

The first ipad could barely read a 20 mb scanned pdf. Had to cut them up. I was only able to store a handful of these books. Today, I can read multiple 200 mb pdfs ind pdf expert and I store my entire library on my ipad. Split screen is very effective for me as I take notes from a book. There is zero lag.

 

[StoneJack]

Apple must launch the Next Device: an iPad/MacBook convert, if it wants to stay relevant.
Why ?
Apple is completely ignoring the new generation, the 15....25 yr. olds that grew up with the iPad. They now need a file system, multi-windowing, peripherals, and more things impossible with an iOS device.

I doubt that anyone wants it. A teenager who grew with iPhones, they just use AirDrop. File Transfer is done. In 1 second.
New generations have new workflows.
And they just grow with iPhones, iPads or AppleTV. My 5 year old searches Disney movies on iPad using built in microphone. I would do it by typing in search bar. She is faster than me. And we didn't teach her to use that mike.

 

[Math889]

Using my iPad Air 2..... really satisfied

 

[jujufreeze]

Why does Apple expect us to update ipads at the same rate as iphones? Still rocking a 1st gen air and don't plan on upgrading until there's pencil support or a proper trackpad/mouse- definitely not getting an ipad pro.

 

[elgrecomac]

I appreciate your opinion, I really do ...but then how do you explain the new MacBook Pros with the Touch Bar ....to me it seems like Apple is envolving towards the surface .

This is what happens when you implement features which look great on a spec sheet but don't necessarily translate to a great user experience in actual, real-world usage.

The Surface Pro is a touchscreen computer running a desktop optimised for a mouse and keyboard interface. It has a ton of apps not optimised for a touchscreen interface either. The people who would hook it up to an external monitor and mouse are those who would be working at a desk anyways, aka the people who would be better off just getting a laptop.

Contrast this with an iPad that sports a very responsive touchscreen, running an OS built for touch from the ground up, running native tablet apps optimised for touch and direct input, and designed with mobility in mind (eg: long battery life, inbuilt 4G, iOS is easier to use and less bloated and buggy overall). All this make for a great mobile computing experience for people who desire to work when they are not at their desk.

And if I want to mirror my iPad to a larger display, that's what the Apple TV is for. No need for wires and cables.


Apple didn't go that route for the oldest and most undeniable of reasons - it sucked and made for a lousy user experience.

And if we look at the tablet market today, the iPad is still pretty much the only tablet which matters. Android tablets are dropping like flies. People aren't buying them unless they are being sold at bargain-bin prices, and as the saying goes - you get what you pay for in the form of shoddy hardware and lack of software support. Conversely, the ipad continues to benefit from a thriving app ecosystem and third-party accessory market.

The Surface is a tablet in form but not in essence. If I wanted to do more "PC-esqe" tasks, then yeah, I would use a Surface Pro over an iPad, but for tablet-esqe tasks, my money is still on the iPad each and every time.


Somehow, I doubt it, but considering that Steve is long dead, we will just have to agree to disagree.

 

[Abazigal]

I appreciate your opinion, I really do ...but then how do you explain the new MacBook Pros with the Touch Bar ....to me it seems like Apple is envolving towards the surface .

I see it as Apple trying to bridge the gap between power users and less tech-savvy users. For example, power users would have memorised every single keyboard shortcut and gesture available in macOS. To them, pressing cmd + T for a new safari tab is like second nature to them.

Not so much for your average consumer who might still be using the trackpad to click on the plus icon in the browser. This is where the touchbar comes in. It brings the power and accessibility of keyboard shortcuts to users who might not be aware of them. They can press a single icon on the touchbar to open a new safari tab, like what the power users are already doing.

To me, the touchbar is simply a more versatile row of function keys, not so much about Apple trying to bring touch to the Mac.

 

[where is it]

That's a big iPhone you have there
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No way. I call BS on this. Seriously?! It's not slow as molasses?

It is possible writing documents is very possible. I still use an old iPad 2 to write documents. It's rubbish at most other things, including browsing the web, but writing works very well.

Plus, because it's so rubbish at everything else, you can really focus on what you're doing.

 

[loby]

The ipad got left behind by the Surface and Surface Pro rather quickly.

I still have ipad 3 which was the redheaded stepchild of ipad line and havent turned it on in over a year.

Yes...still sore about the iPad 3 when they updated it to iPad 4 like 6 months after iPad 3 came out. I use iPad 3 for surfing the web now and that's about it.

Have iPad 1 and really cannot do much with it unfortunately. The app store seems to not have much of the apps left for it. Kids play a few games on it and that's about it. Still runs, battery is fine, but now just a collector's item I guess.
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Maybe he never updated to a newer OS. There would no reason it would be any slower than it was on day 1 then. My first iPad Mini went to hell when I upgraded to iOS 8 so I told my wife not to and hers (still on iOS 7) kills, while I had to get rid of mine and get a newer one.

Yes, it is a bummer that apple does not allow iPad's to go back to old iOS's. I would love to put an old IOS like 7 on my iPad 3 or one of the original for the iPad 1 and let it run faster than what it does now. Should have made a backup of every version just-in-cause there is a need to go back, but we live and learn.

 

[Steve121178]

Why does Apple expect us to update ipads at the same rate as iphones?

Who says they do?

 

[routine_analyst]

Feel bad for Steve. The iPad of today is not what he ambitioned back then... Steve wanted the iPad to be a computer replacement, instead it became a giant iPod toy to play silly mobile games and watch youtube videos

Steve wanted to reinvent entire industries, not products. He envisioned the iPad as a learning tool for a better classroom. He was quoted in that book of his to have been incredibly dissatisfied with the classroom and it was said that he saw textbooks be replaced by this device. Apple made some partnerships before he died, one of them was with LAUSD, to do just that - replace the textbook. But he died shortly after ... and those deals soured and Apple kind of did nothing with education - perhaps because the vision died with Jobs.

 

[verpeiler]

Mostly just form factor, but I think "made then thinner" is an over simplification. Were in an age of refinement until the next technological wave comes along. And while the AirPods were not the first wireless ear buds, they are packing some pretty great tech. They did some amazing stuff with the W1 chip and the whole experience of pairing and switching devices. That's never been done before. AirPods were the first "holy ****" moment I've had since the iPhone.

Really? I mean, there have been so many great wireless earbuds out there for years, just take the jaybirds... only thing apple did was the charging box. But pairing is a one time configuration, so what Apple did is maybe nice for grandma.

What kind of products are you expecting them to release?

You mean "groundbreaking"? Finally a desktop computer worth it's name, not iMacs with laughable GPUs.

 

[bart4u]

After teasing fans to "come see our latest creation" in the weeks leading up to one of its famous media events, seven years ago today former Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the first-generation iPad to the world. The iPad was announced as a larger-screen counterpart to the company's three-years-old iPhone, with Scott Forstall pointing out during the conference that the tablet could run "virtually every" iPhone app thanks to an on-screen button that users could press to scale the app's resolution up and down on a whim.

The original iPad launched with a 9.7-inch 1024 x 768 resolution touch screen, in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities. The 1.5lb tablet included Apple's A4 chip and was priced at $499, $599, and $699 for Wi-Fi only models, and $629, $729, and $829 for Wi-Fi + 3G models in each respective capacity. The Wi-Fi version debuted on April 3, 2010, while users interested in Wi-Fi and 3G had to wait until April 30 for Apple's new tablet.

Steve Jobs on the iPad:
After the event in 2010, initial reactions to the iPad were largely positive, with sites like Engadget calling it "blazingly fast" and remarking that the tablet had no lag when hopping around its various apps. The screen was thought to be "stunning" and the iPad's iBooks application impressed, thanks to its flipping page animations and library-inspired bookshelf space for eBooks that upheld Apple's then popular skeuomorphic iOS design.

The original iPad's largest drawback centered on its substantial 1.5lb weight, as well as the lack of Flash in its operating system, no multitasking, and no camera. Seven years later, Apple has iterated on its original design and addressed most of these user complaints with each update to the iPad.

The current 12.9-inch iPad Pro weighs about the same as the original iPad at 1.57lbs, and still runs a larger version of iOS, but it's thinner (6.9mm vs 13mm) and is the "most capable and powerful" iPad yet, according to Apple, putting it on par with desktop-class machines.

While the iPad saw strong early adoption, Apple has experienced sales declines in the past few years, with users replacing their iPads less frequently than iPhones. Most commonly, users update their iPhones every year or two, while finding their iPads remain serviceable for longer.

In the company's annual earnings report last October focusing on the fourth fiscal quarter of 2016, iPad sales were down slightly to 9.3 million from 9.9 million in the same year-ago quarter. Although they were also infamously down in sales in 2016, Apple still sold 45.5 million iPhones in the same quarter, down from 48 million in the fourth quarter of 2015.

New iPads are consistently part of the Apple rumor cycle, and 2017 has been no different, with current reports pointing towards the launch of three new iPad Pro models sometime during the calendar year. Apple is believed to put out a new 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad, but the exact screen size of a mysterious middle size model has been up for debate, including 10.1, 10.5, and 10.9-inches.

When it launches, the new 10-inch model may look very different from the 2010 iPad, reportedly doing away with the iconic Home Button, further reducing the size of the tablet's bezels with an edge-to-edge display, and include the usual iterative bumps to camera resolution and speed. One of the ports that the 2017 iPad is rumored to keep intact from its seven-year-old progenitor is the 3.5mm headphone jack, which the iPhone 7 ditched last year.

The full press conference covering Steve Jobs' introduction of the iPad can be viewed on YouTube here.

Article Link: Seven Years Ago Today: Steve Jobs Introduces the iPad

I still have the IPad 2. It's OK for watching Youtube and movies. It runs a bit slow. As a photographer I would like to shoot hard wire RAW images into the IPad but it needs an SD card slot or micro SD slot for memory. I feel Apple needs to come up with something like that. Wireless uploading would be too slow for large RAW files. Come on Apple be creative and give us a new IPad that rocks.

 

[applezulu]

Why is seven years important? Shouldn't we be celebrating this is in increments of 5, 10, 20, etc years?

Why are increments of five important, other than the ability to count that high with your fingers?
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Apple must launch the Next Device: an iPad/MacBook convert, if it wants to stay relevant.
Why ?
Apple is completely ignoring the new generation, the 15....25 yr. olds that grew up with the iPad. They now need a file system, multi-windowing, peripherals, and more things impossible with an iOS device. Attributes that obviously surpass the read-only habits at the Apple Board. Every schoolteacher realizes this, but apparently not Apple Board members. They deny the generation they created themselves.
The end of the Post-PC era hasn't come, nor will, and this tragic errant just shows how disconnected Apple has become. That statement alone denies the whole IT-industry and is a self-disqualification of Balmeric proportions.
The new generation will never give up their real touchscreens. It doesn't care about Cook, Apple's legacy or it's inflated Pro label. It urges for a modern convert offering: MacBook functionality without giving up iPad multi-touch. And yes, that device will initially compete with the (stagnant) MacBook and iPad. But it will open a new market that is soo many times bigger.
And yes, it requires a convolute iOS/MacOS or whatever serves the goal.
So that takes courage. And a vision beyond removing a headphone port or MagSafe adapter.
As nice as the TouchBar can be for some tasks, it is a sad compromise. A 4th interface element (next to keyboard, screen, mouse) competing for user attention adding to complexity. It doesn't solve the elementary lack of a multi-touchscreen. It was an escape from tough decisions with the marketing butt-talk that real tech savvy companies don't need. Symptom of a lamentary Apple, unable to see evolution - unable even to react to stagnating sales - leaving the future to Microsoft and the Taiwanese IT industry.

Apple has never been in the business of making devices that are a hodge-podge in order to be all things to all people. Doing so adds orders of magnitude more variables to the system, increasing the crash rate, and decreasing the intuitiveness of the UI, among other things. What you're describing is a Windows device. Those work for some people, but Apple is unlikely to ever pursue that business model. If they do, that's when the lamentations over the loss of Steve Jobs' vision will be real.

 

[Bacillus]

Apple has never been in the business of making devices that are a hodge-podge in order to be all things to all people. Doing so adds orders of magnitude more variables to the system, increasing the crash rate, and decreasing the intuitiveness of the UI, among other things. What you're describing is a Windows device. Those work for some people, but Apple is unlikely to ever pursue that business model. If they do, that's when the lamentations over the loss of Steve Jobs' vision will be real.

You're in denial...the first iPod and iPhone were singular Big Things for all people.
Lackluster iPad sales and lamenting MacBook growth show it's time for the next Big Thing, new product category. What Cook recognizes as the PostPC-era, but yet fails to implement.
The new generation thinks different from you - outside the box of "what Apple has always done". Amazon Echo and MS Surface lead that path now. They show that the market is not interested in your in(st)abilities, variables and compromises. That a different mindset would have sorted out now.

 

[someone28624]

I was a hater for the iPad originally, then got a deal on gen 1 when gen 2 came out. I started a huge trend at work and everyone got one. Now I'm on my third ipad- the 9 inch pro. It's fantastic. Truly a desktop level machine.

I've forgotten how much skeumorphism was in iOS originally. Talk about a walk down memory lane.

 

[oliversl]

Yep they call him 'the Scirocco wind' for a reason.

Didn't knew that, tks!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirocco

 

[admob71]

I was a hater for the iPad originally, then got a deal on gen 1 when gen 2 came out. I started a huge trend at work and everyone got one. Now I'm on my third ipad- the 9 inch pro. It's fantastic. Truly a desktop level machine.

I've forgotten how much skeumorphism was in iOS originally. Talk about a walk down memory lane.

I think you need to re-assess what desktop level means...

How many usb ports are there for example...

 

[someone28624]

I think you need to re-assess what desktop level means...

How many usb ports are there for example...

Desktop level means different things for different people. I don't use a lot of peripherals. I can do anything I ever need to do on my iPad. It also doesn't have a floppy drive disk, if you're wondering, nor any serial ports.

 

[admob71]

Desktop level means different things for different people. I don't use a lot of peripherals. I can do anything I ever need to do on my iPad. It also doesn't have a floppy drive disk, if you're wondering, nor any serial ports.

No it doesn't, do they try and be cute and twist the narrative. Desktop level means one thing, it's on a par with what a desktop computer can. Let's use an imac or a mac pro as an example of a desktop computer. So ports for a mice, a keyboard, maybe a 2nd monitor, and accessible file system. Access to download whatever the hell you want to from the Web and install it (at your own risk) and all the other bells and whistles that come with a desktop. I might only surf the Web on my tablet, that's fine, but in no way shape or form does that make it a desktop equivalent. Good day sir.

 

[Uofmtiger]

I got the original iPad (cellular data version) on day 1, and completely loved it. Upgraded to the first Retina display iPad (3) - also the day it was released. Next I switched to the iPad Air 2, and finally the the 9.7" iPad Pro. (My dad inherited the first two, my wife has my Air.) I have loved every single one, and the Pro has the most incredible display for photos, etc. Always spend far more time using my iPad than I do my iPhone and indeed talk far more using FaceTime than with phone calls

That is funny, I had the exact same upgrade path.

I use the iPad more than all of my other devices/computers combined when I am home. I don't use it as a laptop replacement, and to be honest, I don't need it to be a laptop replacement. I like my MBP with a 15 inch screen for working in Excel, Final Cut, etc.
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I still have the IPad 2. It's OK for watching Youtube and movies. It runs a bit slow. As a photographer I would like to shoot hard wire RAW images into the IPad but it needs an SD card slot or micro SD slot for memory. I feel Apple needs to come up with something like that. Wireless uploading would be too slow for large RAW files. Come on Apple be creative and give us a new IPad that rocks.

Apple has an adapter for uploading files via SD or USB. Lightroom Mobile now works with RAW files on the iPad, as well.

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJYT2AM/A/lightning-to-sd-card-camera-reader?afid=p238|sKSP8osAh-dc_mtid_1870765e38482_pcrid_52243316890_&cid=aos-us-kwgo-pla-btb--slid--product-MJYT2AM/A

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MK0W2AM/A/lightning-to-usb-3-camera-adapter?afid=p238|sUT3HWa3h-dc_mtid_1870765e38482_pcrid_52243316890_&cid=aos-us-kwgo-pla-btb--slid--product-MK0W2AM/A


To get USB3 speeds, I think you need the iPad Pro 12.9. (someone can correct me if I am wrong)

 

[Xiroteus]

I thought the first generation was lacking far too much. It did get much better as time went on by adding things they should have the previous year.

 

[JackieInCo]

I was a hater for the iPad originally, then got a deal on gen 1 when gen 2 came out. I started a huge trend at work and everyone got one. Now I'm on my third ipad- the 9 inch pro. It's fantastic. Truly a desktop level machine.

I've forgotten how much skeumorphism was in iOS originally. Talk about a walk down memory lane.

I bought my third iPad last week, a 9.7" Pro. I started with an iPad Mini 2. A few months later, bought an iPad Air. I sold it about six month later and kept the Mini where I still have it and use it along with my iPad Pro and 15" 2015 MBP.

For me the iPad is not a laptop replacement and never will. I use my MBP not only for internet use but to download movies and convert them for use in iTunes for my ATV2 using iFlicks. Can't do that on an iPad.

I'm using my iPad Pro strictly for internet/apps and I don't do any work on my iPad or MBP and so I don't need the pencil or keyboard for it.

I'll keep this iPad Pro for several years just like I'm doing with my Mini 2. There are times when I kind of want to also get the 12.9" Pro strictly for the extra RAM. I have pushed my 9.7 to it's limits sometimes using Safari on sites that have hundreds of images. I can get Safari to crash almost every time.

Love the iPad. Still remember the keynote where Steve introduced it and thought the price on the thing was ridiculous. I still do but considering it's not something that needs to be upgraded that often, the price can be justified for me.

 

[Abazigal]

Desktop level means different things for different people. I don't use a lot of peripherals. I can do anything I ever need to do on my iPad. It also doesn't have a floppy drive disk, if you're wondering, nor any serial ports.

Let them have their petty victory.

What matters is that your iPad is working great for you and that you are going great work on it. Who cares whether the iPad meets someone's arbitrary definition of whether it is "desktop-level" or not.

My iPad is mirrored to my Apple TV in the classroom. My files are stored in Dropbox and iCloud. The files I need can be transferred via airdrop. If the iPad is disadvantaged by not having a USB port, I am not feeling it.

 

[admob71]

Let them have their petty victory.

What matters is that your iPad is working great for you and that you are going great work on it. Who cares whether the iPad meets someone's arbitrary definition of whether it is "desktop-level" or not.

My iPad is mirrored to my Apple TV in the classroom. My files are stored in Dropbox and iCloud. The files I need can be transferred via airdrop. If the iPad is disadvantaged by not having a USB port, I am not feeling it.

How do you know he's doing great work on it? Sycophantic? Much?

 

[Abazigal]

How do you know he's doing great work on it? Sycophantic? Much?

If he thinks he is, he is. That's really all there is to it. Reviewing and approving my students' blog comments from my iPhone may not be on the same level as people editing 8k footage on dual-5k displays, but work is still work, regardless of the form it takes or the medium used to complete it.

We are beyond debating whether iPad can be used for content creation. That discussion is over and those still arguing that it cannot are saying more about themselves than about the iPad with every passing month.