10 years ago, Apple revealed the iPad at CES 2010. Steve Jobs’ special announcement showed the world a device spanning the gap between smartphones and laptops, and Apple’s official response to the netbook trend.
The iPad was marketed as offering “the best browsing experience” with a bigger screen optimized for entertainment, gaming, and ebook reading. Holding the thin screen in your hands with a touch interface was meant to bring an intimacy to consumers’ digital escapades. It was essentially the first electronic tablet to be taken seriously.
I’ll admit it, like many others at the time, I chuckled at the notion that there was a need for a “bigger phone”. Wired shared the same sentiments. But the fact that new iPad models are still entering the market ten years later shows how much our consumer culture has adapted to their use. 360 million units have sold as of 2017.
However, the rest of the electronics market did not abandon netbooks—instead touch tablets and netbooks have begun to blend features across many companies such as the Microsoft Surface, the Samsung Galaxy Note tablet series, and Amazon’s (price-friendly) Fire tablets.
The rise of the tablet has helped transform workflow for professionals who make use of the portability and workload capabilities comparable with many laptops. It has practical uses in almost all industries, from construction for blue prints, to retail for point of sale systems. The possibilities in app development have also broadened thanks to Apple’s constant improvements to its operating systems. Let alone a new entire section in software development dedicated to Apps.
I, for one, have a difficult time imagining life before my handy and convenient “drawing tablet” that doubles as a fully-functioning writing set-up, but yet gives me the freedom to watch a movie pretty much wherever/whenever. It’ll be interesting to see where Apple will go with future iPad generations and whether or not this third type of electronic device will remain relevant in another ten years.
