iPad at 15
Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the original iPad 15 years ago today, marking one and a half decades of the company’s “revolutionary” tablet.
A decade of my iPad coverage, collected in a single, recently updated page.
Confession: I use my Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 way more than my iPad. Unless iOS, it’s not crippled by software. Chrome works like on desktop, split screen works much better and some of the AI features actually make sense.
The confusion over the device is not limited to reviewers or buyers but extends to Apple itself, which hasn’t really been able to give it the direction it deserves. Had Steve Jobs not died, the iPad likely would have received more focus, attention, and appreciation.
Over the years, it’s fair to say the iPad has suffered from a subpar operating system experience. There has been a distinct lack of popular and hit applications. Still, one can’t ignore the amazing hardware and its true capabilities. If only there were more interesting apps — not games — that tapped into what Apple packs into it.
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Still, there is no denying that for children and elders, the iPad is a perfect computer.
See also: BasicAppleGuy.
Previously:
- iPad mini (7th Generation)
- iPadOS 18
- Tab Bar and Sidebar in iPadOS 18
- The State of iPadOS in 2024
- iPad Pro (M4, 7th Generation)
- iPad Air (6th Generation)
- Final Cut Pro 2 and Logic Pro 2 for iPad
- Apple Pencil Pro
- Where iPad Fits In
- iPad (10th Generation)
- iPad at 10
Update (2025-01-30): Rui Carmo (via Tomas Kafka):
This is a follow-up to a couple of previous ramblings (last week and before) about the iPad and its limitations, and is a list of things that I would love to have on an iPad, but that Apple still doesn’t really want us to in 2024, fourteen years since the iPad’s debut.
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Instead of any of these, last WWDC we got ChatGPT and… a calculator.
Previously:
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Lightroom on the iPad is very good and helps make the iPad a great Photo-editing device on the road.
Still love the iPad 15 years later. Best drawing tablet I've ever owned, best notepad I've ever owned, best all-purpose reading device (though a plain-jane Kindle is still the best for books).
It's made to do certain things really well, and it's never going to replace a laptop or serve everyone's needs, and I wish people would just make peace with that.
This article is a great complement to the above ones - a list of areas where the idea of working on an iPad is (often intentionally) crippled by Apple’s business model and fear of losing control.
https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2024/07/25/0900
I for one would be thrilled to have a VM with IDE and my dev stack I could take on holidays for emergency server fixes instead of lugging a MacBook Pro.
