Apple’s First iPad Officially Turns a Decade-Old Today

Now in 2020, it’s difficult to imagine not having Apple products in our lives. Whether it’s the MacBook or the iPhone, these devices have defined the way we operate our lives. But it wasn’t until ten years ago that we received the very first iPad.

While most people see the iPad as the first significant tablet computing device made by Apple, that isn’t entirely true.

In 1993, Apple introduced the world to the Newton MessagePad 100. The MessagePad was a PDA, and that was basically it. Users could write, record data, and store information and transfer that data via memory cards to a computer.

The MessagePad sold very well in its first run, moving 50,000 units. It did have severe battery issues due to the choice to have it run on AAA batteries, however.

Apple would release several additional models in the MessagePad series of PDAs until it was discontinued in 1998.

It wouldn’t be until 2007 that Apple entered the mobile market again. With the announcement of the iPhone, Apple had again captured the mobile device market for itself. The ability to have a multi-touch touchscreen was a game-changer, complete with a camera and iPod functionality. But it was still a small device, making tasks such as writing or note-taking difficult.

Less than two years later, rumors of the so-called “iPad” had arisen. Could there be a tablet device that relies on iOS software in development? Industry pundits speculated and caught stories through the supply chain.

Apple would not announce the iPad until January 2010 during a press conference hosted by Steve Jobs himself. According to Jobs, Apple had actually been developing the iPad before the iPhone. However, he delayed the product upon realizing how well the functionality would work in a mobile device.

The Apple iPad would be released on April 3rd, 2010, in its Wi-Fi-connected version, with the WiFi+Cellular variant being released almost a month later.

The device came with iOS 3.2 installed as well as a 1 GHz processor, 256 MB of RAM and a PowerVR SGX535 GPU, all packaged up in what was known as Apple A4 SoC.

The screen was a 7.75″ × 5.82″ liquid crystal display @ 132 PPI. The device had 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB variants upon release.

The first iPad was mostly well-received, with customers stating that the extensive lines in front of Apple’s stores were worth the wait. Tech journalists were less enthused about the product but noted how much of a gamechanger the tablet was.

By the end of May 2010, Apple was able to sell more than a million devices in total. It’s now estimated that Apple has sold well over 360 million iPads since its release.