iPad

Like what I talked about previously, we will be shifting our focus onto it’s older sibling, the iPad.

Let’s talk a bit about the history of the iPad. It came out in 2010. Its announcement was special as it made Apple do an additional presentation of the Keynote, with Steve Jobs announcing the product!

Steve Jobs with the very first iPad 

What he is holding is the very first iPad, where it only allows Wi-Fi connection. It was not planned until someone at a party mentioned a tablet that Microsoft is doing which is going all wrong, and the ‘failure’ gave him the drive to create the iPad. He went against the fact that a tablet should have a stylus (which I will get to later in the blog post!) and he found that Microsoft is doing all wrong and thought to himself, “F*** this, let’s show him what a tablet can really be (Jobs, 2010)”.

He went to Apple headquarters the next day and asked for a multi-touch tablet with no keyboard or stylus. He got one six months later! Instead of making it a tablet, though, Apple shrank it and made the iPhone. Later on, they released the iPad, 3 years down the road. The success of it being made so fast, and with Microsoft not releasing a buyable tablet into the market.

After it’s release, the first iPad saw the success of selling its first millionth tablet at the 28-day mark, beating the iPhone at 78 days. At the end of the year, it sold 15 million tablets worldwide! Quick after its success, they announce iPad 2 which enable 3G connectivity! Sadly, months after the release, Steve Jobs passed away.

This is where all the changes to Apple came in. Although retina displays were added to further improve the clarity of the visuals, the iPads were getting smaller! It was ironic because the iPhones were getting bigger while iPads were getting smaller. There was a joke saying that the iPad were going to be the new iPhones while the iPhones will become iPad in years to come.

Parody of the size of Apple products 

The iPad mini was to provide users who want to have a portable tablet around, letting one to easily do their work whenever and wherever. However, this will be phased out after this year as there are no other plans on further pursuing its longevity. There is also an option of iPad Air, where the size would be the same, but slimmer. Colours were also added when the release came out over the year, where the iconic home button still being around. Touch ID was introduced as well, on an iPad (2014) before making it’s way to the iPhone 6 (2015).

Here’s where the uproar started. In 2016, iPad Pro was announced. It was huge, and it was the biggest screen a tablet went, and it was 12.9 inch. This was meant for company that design, for them to work closely and have a comfortable screen to plan what they have. However, it came with a price. Tim Cook introduced the..

Apple Pencil

Yes, you got it right, the most hated thing by Steve Jobs, a STYLUS. Its main purpose is to create a sharper accuracy while designing, to make minimal flaws. I tried looking up for the keynote, but to no avail it is not found. At the keynote, there was a huge commotion that came up when it was announced because Steve Jobs hated the thought of using a stylus!

Steve Jobs’ hatred towards to stylus

However, the sales of the iPad went downhill after 2013 thus it’s saving grace was to release something bigger and better. What I feel that the main purpose of an iPad is to provide teenagers with a platform to do e-learning and assist one for presentation purposes. The size of it as compared to a laptop is much more feasible and one would be able to use its portable size to bring it around, and it weights way lesser than how a laptop would weigh. I also think that the Apple Pencil is a gimmick just to boost their commercial value. Although it might be helpful, I find that going against why the founder felt there was no need for a stylus just spoils the image of what the company was known for. The whole point Apple was so strong in its game was because we control the device with our bare hands, and creating an object to guide us along what we need to do is a waste of human resource. Although it gives good revenue for the company and it helps people with clumsy typing and more than large fingers for accuracy, the fact that introducing the stylus allows other company to pinpoint what you did wrong. Notably, Samsung was using the stylus in their phones and they mocked Apple for creating something that was much bigger and took credit to what they did first (the stylus was however not created by Samsung). The two rival is locked into this realm of competition, and creating that new void creates more conflict, which is not necessary for Apple’s wellbeing.