Steve Jobs Envisioned the iPad in 1983

Visionary is one of the most frequently used words to describe Steve Jobs. Nearly a year after he passed away, historians are still digging up treasures from his life that confirm that assessment.

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The Next Web writes of a speech Jobs gave in 1983 at the Center for Design innovation. After that speech, he had a question-and-answer session that covered a wide range of topics, one of which was an incredibly detailed assessment of Jobs' vision for a "computer in a book" that one could learn how to use in 20 minutes.

"Apple’s strategy is really simple. What we want to do is we want to put an incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you and learn how to use in 20 minutes. That’s what we want to do and we want to do it this decade," says Jobs. "And we really want to do it with a radio link in it so you don’t have to hook up to anything and you’re in communication with all of these larger databases and other computers."

The full recording of the speech including the Q&A is available at LifeLibertyTech.com, with the Q&A starting about 21 minutes in.

Walter Isaacson also revealed some tidbits behind the development of the iPad in Steve Jobs' biography.

(Image courtesy Matt Buchanan)

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Top Rated Comments

yeah Avatar
167 months ago
A truly talented and artistic person. Rest in peace :(
Score: 55 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kdarling Avatar
167 months ago
Everybody and their brother had a vision of a computer in a book back then...

Mostly because of Alan Kay and his Dynabook concept from 1968:

Score: 51 Votes (Like | Disagree)
b166er Avatar
167 months ago
Not many of us live long enough to see our own dreams come true. Steve was a major exception.
Score: 51 Votes (Like | Disagree)
somebodyorother Avatar
167 months ago
He accomplished that except for one thing: you can learn to use an iPad in TWO minutes!
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Eso Avatar
167 months ago
...and how long before that did they envision a tablet computer in a science fiction film/show?
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turtlez Avatar
167 months ago
Samsung is now butthurt
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)