(This story was first published on 3 April 2016, and has been updated to mark the 8th year since the first Apple iPad was announced by Steve Jobs in 2010.)
Even for a genius like Steve Jobs, not every product move was an instant hit. But as they say, you keep on trying till the last breath and try he did. Apple may have launched the first iPhone in 2007 but as Jobs went on to say, the iPad was a bigger fish in his humongous pond.
The first portable computing device was tried out by Jobs in 1993 but it took them more than a decade to make the perfect product. The iPad was announced on April 3, 2010, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, eight years ago.
It has been a long time since the iPad first fascinated millions of people across the planet but off late the demand for iPad has been wearing thin. In 2016, Apple went onto to reimagine the iPad and giving us the iPad Pro that comes in a 12.9-inch form factor.
Where it all began...
What we want to do is we want to put an incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you.Steve Jobs in 1983
The product was part of Apple’s renaissance in the technology sphere, which also included the iPhone and making of iOS, Apple’s mobile ecosystem. Apple saw the iPad as the device which could help them capitalize on the user’s need for a product that’s lighter than a laptop but as powerful as a PC.
The iPad was made available to users in multiple storage models, and you even had the option to go for a WiFi or SIM-based variant of the tablet. The difference between a tablet and iPad is similar to that of a Mac and PC.
Microsoft has tried its best to match the level of iPad and even Google attempted its tablet cause with the Nexus edition devices but both the devices failed to match iPad’s hype and demand.
The Rest is History
The iPad has witnessed various generation upgrades over the years, and after realising that tablets aren’t a fad anymore, Apple decided to change things. In came the iPad Pro modelling its design on the Microsoft Surface 2-in-1 convertible.
The reason for that has been the gradual decline in demand for tablets, which has resulted in Apple’s iPad shipment numbers taking the downward spiral.
People are switching from tablets to convertibles which is why it made sense for Apple to make the iPad Pro in not one but two sizes; 12.9-inch and 9.7-inch as well. But that didn’t come to Apple’s rescue either.
It’s funny to say that Apple’s repeated push with the iPad and the iPad Pro counters the logic of Steve Jobs who ridiculed the idea of a Stylus (iPad Pro and even the 2018 iPad has a Pencil now).
Yuck! Who wants a Stylus?Steve Jobs at the launch of first iPhone in 2007
Tim Cook and Co. keep trying to replicate the Jobs-magic with newer variants of iPad, that merely feel like an upgrade. Feeling the heat from its competition in the low-end notebook segment, Apple in 2018 has come out with a hardware specific to the education sector.
The not-so-new iPad vies for its space alongside Google’s cheap Chromebook laptops, which have become popular in schools. Then, you have the Windows 10 affordable range of notebooks that have kinda moved on from the laggard past of Windows 8 and wretched 8.1 version.
Gone are the days when Apple saw the tablet market as its beacon of growth, instead, the Cupertino-based giant is looking to redeem its value by offering the not-so-cheap iPad starting at $299 (Rs 17,900 approx).
Unlike few years back when tablets were heralded to take over from laptops, the clock seem to have turned itself back in favour of the latter. And it’s time to admit where things stand.
For many of you iPad has been a legend, but as they say, all good things finally come to a not-so-fruitful end. That’s probably what we’re seeing with the iPad now, the device that made us realise the value of laptops.
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