A Brief History of Apple's iPad | Free Apple iPad
Initially, the iPad seems to be a bigger, somewhat less portable version of Apple Inc.’s iPod Touch and iPhone. However, the similarities lie solely on the surface, for beneath the 9.7 inch touch-screen, the iPad is a wholly different animal. Conceived as a revival of the defunct tablet market, the iPad has sold over one million units since its release on April 3rd, 2010.
Until the iPad’s release in April, the tablet computer market had been extremely limited, due in part to the constraints of existing technology. in terms of hardware, the tablets were subject to short battery life, screen problems and damage, and the difficulty of cutting down the size of the machine itself. Tablets have historically had many software issues, from ergonomics to problems with relaying information via primitive touch-screens.
Apple’s release of the iPad is not its first; the new tablet device is the latest in a line of similar computers. The first was the Newton MessagePad, a very early personal data assistant (or PDA), which released in 1993, and saw several upgrades until it was discontinued in 1998. they also developed a prototype portable computer which they called the ‘PenLite,’ but it was not released because they did not want the introduction of the new device to interfere with the MessagePad’s sales. after the MessagePad was discontinued, Apple focused primarily on their desktop-based computers, injecting a unique and attractive aesthetic design into their formula. This design has been carried over into all of their products, from hardware to software, portable to stationary.
Featuring a camera and all of the functionalities of a cellphone, and built into an advanced piece of hardware, the iPhone used its multi-touch interface to draw in consumers with its ease-of-access and unique interaction. Supported by Apple’s iTunes and App Store, the device took a step away from competitors like the BlackBerry and moved towards a more open interface that was immediately-accessible to new users.
Their game-changing focus on aesthetics was one of the biggest sells of their 2007 iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple reentered the ultra-mobile PC market with their touch-screen driven gadgets that shed space-wasting keyboards and buttons, and opted for a touch-sensitive interface. This set the stage of the introduction of the iPad three years later.
For as far back as 2001, there has been much discussion and buzz over the idea of an Apple tablet. With each iteration of the Macbook, iMac, and iPod, Apple seemed to be moving towards the end-all that combined all of the advantages of the Macbook into a device as simple and efficient as an iPod (with a superior interface, of course). as anticipation built after the debut of the iPhone, potential names were thrown about. The most plain, and most common, was the ‘Apple Tablet,’ a that was sufficient, but not in line with Apple’s recent nomenclature design. Another common moniker, ‘iSlate’ seemed to hold water, because of the inclusion of the signature lower-case ‘i’ and the play on the word ‘Tablet.’ among others, all wrong, were ‘Tablet,’ ‘iTablet,’ ‘iTab.’
Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, Inc. debuted the iPad on January 27th, 2010, during the Apple press conference at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, to much excitement and buzz. in the months following its release, critics and fans alike conjectured and debated the pros and cons of the device, and the suddenly resurrected tablet-PC market.
Apple began taking pre-orders for the device on March 12th, and when the first unit, the Wi-Fi-only iPad was released, thousands stood in lines around the United States to get their hands on the new gadget. over the course of the next few weeks, every model of the iPad became available, each time with a renewed enthusiasm.
The iPad comes in two distinct models, though there are several permutations to be chosen by consumers. Primarily the difference between the two models lies in the wireless configuration. The first iPad to be released is exclusively Wi-Fi; it does not have the 3G network availability, and therefore can be connected to the internet only when it is in a wireless hotspot, because both models lack Ethernet, USB, and several other key hardware ports. The later release, which is 3G-enabled, is always connected to the internet via a satellite connection. Users can choose between 16, 32, and 64 gigabyte hard drives, and both versions of the iPad run on Apple’s iPhone OS 3.2, though it will be upgraded in the future. Of the 3G iPad, customers have two options for a data plan; a 250 mb plan, or an unlimited one for twice the price.
In the months leading up to the announcement of the iPad, there has been much consternation over whether or not a tablet resurrection was necessary. Many critics claimed that the iPad would only be a bigger, less portable version of the iPhone, with less features, and to an extent this has been true. However, the iPad’s larger screen and more advanced hardware allow for greater usage of the multi-touch technology, and the design of the table allows for a versatility in what it can be used to do.
Finally realized and released, Apple Inc.’s iPad tablet has changed the portable-PC market permanently. Already, Verizon, Google, and a host of others have announced plans to release their own tablets to compete with Apple’s own device, though to what degree of success, only time can tell.
A Brief History of Apple's iPad | Free Apple iPad
