Recap: Apple’s tablet wasn’t a surprise when Jobs took the wraps off it during a press conference at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on January 27, 2010. Pundits speculated that Apple’s tablet may be called the iSlate or perhaps the iTablet but Cupertino ultimately went with iPad.
It’s been 10 years to the day since Steve Jobs officially introduced the term “iPad” into the English lexicon.
The company probably could have spared itself some early embarrassment by going with one of the other leading names as the term iPad sparked all sorts of jokes related to feminine products.
Despite arriving nearly three years after the iPhone, development on the iPad actually started before the handset. While tinkering with an early version of a multi-touch display, Jobs realized that they could build a phone with it. As such, development of the tablet was put on the backburner so Apple could focus on what would eventually become the iPhone.
The first couple of iPads experienced the type of growing pains you’d expect from a new category but over the years, the form factor came into its own as designs were refined and compatibility expanded.
The iPad helped spawn a whole new category of device in the tablet which soared in popularity before cooling in recent years. The iPad is now experiencing a bit of a renaissance as a professional device and likely has many more solid years ahead of it.
Masthead credit: Kimberly White, Getty Images. iPad by sergey causelove.
https://www.techspot.com/news/83733-happy-birthday-ipad-turns-10.html
