Apple Announced the iPad 15 Years Ago Today

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the original iPad 15 years ago today, marking one and a half decades of the company's "revolutionary" tablet.

original ipad 2
Jobs unveiled the first-generation ‌iPad‌ at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on January 27, 2010. Designed to fill the gap between smartphones and laptops, the original ‌iPad‌ featured a 9.7-inch LED-backlit multitouch display, Apple's first custom designed chip, a 30-pin dock connector, and up to 64GB storage. With a starting price of $499, it offered users a new way to browse the web, read eBooks, watch videos, and interact with Apple's growing app ecosystem. Jobs described it as "a magical and revolutionary device."

iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price. iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.

The ‌iPad‌ used a version of iOS tailored for its larger display, bringing a big-screen experience to familiar mobile apps like Safari, Mail, and Photos. It introduced the iBooks app and iBookstore as part of an effort to compete in the e-reading space dominated by Amazon's Kindle. Its design was characterized by thick black bezels, a physical home button, and a convex aluminum back. It weighed 1.5 pounds and offered 10 hours of battery life.

The initial reception to the ‌iPad‌ was mixed. While many praised its lightweight computing and media consumption experience, others questioned its necessity and potential to replace laptops.

Nevertheless, the ‌iPad‌ sold over 300,000 units on its launch day in April 2010 and one million within its first month. It catalyzed the creation of a new product category, sparking competition from rivals such as Samsung, Microsoft, and Amazon. By the end of 2010, Apple had sold over 15 million iPads, generating $9.5 billion in revenue and solidifying the device as a key pillar of the company's product lineup.

The ‌iPad‌ has since become a tentpole device for Apple, expanding into product lines including the iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro and accessories such as the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard. Subsequent models introduced cameras, multitasking, different display size options, USB-C connectivity, and more. See Apple's original press release from 2010 for more information.

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Top Rated Comments

Dr McKay Avatar
13 weeks ago
This is one of the products that I sometimes like to go back to the original MacRumors articles from its release and read the comments calling it a stupid product and claiming it’ll fail.

Edit: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-releases-ipad-tablet-new-sdk-ibooks-and-iwork-apps.854974/
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CrapShack Avatar
13 weeks ago
And it was doomed to FAILURE because it didn't run Flash.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turbineseaplane Avatar
13 weeks ago
Love my iPad hardware

But do wish iPadOS was further along than where it is
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Blackstick Avatar
13 weeks ago
Was working the Apple Store back then (07-14). My roommate was the assistant store manager.

Night before this announcement, he was the closing manager and I was the closing Mac Genius. He was opening storage totes and containers somewhat absentmindedly in the manager's office and accidentally opened a sleeve marked "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL NOON EST ON JAN 27, 2010"

Out flew a display cardboard poster intended for the front of the store saying something like "Meet the iPad this April!"

Annnnnnnnd yeah, for 12 hours we knew the name and saw the face of the tablet. Basically before anyone outside Infinite Loop. We went to grab a late dinner and were like "man it's like a big iPhone, cool star trail wallpaper too... MacRumors would go nuts."
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
abusbey3 Avatar
13 weeks ago
Bought one and loved it from the first. What a wonderful product.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cicalinarrot Avatar
13 weeks ago
The iPad 15 hasn't come out yet, you dummy.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)