iPad
The iPad
is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by
Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including
books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was
introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its
size and weight fall between those of contemporary smartphones and
laptop computers. The iPad runs the same operating system as the iPod
Touch and iPhone—and can run its own applications as well as iPhone
applications. Without modification, the iPad will only run programs
approved by Apple and distributed via the Apple App Store (with the
exception of programs that run inside the iPad's web browser).
Like
iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad is controlled by a multitouch
display—a departure from most previous tablet computers, which used a
pressure-triggered stylus—as well as a virtual onscreen keyboard in lieu
of a physical keyboard. The iPad uses a Wi-Fi connection to access
local area networks and the Internet. Some models also have a 3G
wireless network interface which can connect to HSPA or EV-DO data
networks and on to the Internet. Since the release of iOS 5, the device
does not need to be managed and synced by iTunes running on a personal
computer via USB cable.
Apple
released the first iPad in April 2010, and sold 3 million of the devices
in 80 days. During 2010, Apple sold 14.8 million iPads worldwide, representing 75 percent of tablet PC sales at the end of 2010.
By
the release of the iPad 2 in March 2011, more than 15 million iPads
had been sold—selling more than all other tablet PCs combined since the
iPad's release. In 2011, it is expected to take 83 percent of the
tablet computing market share in the United States.
Apple's
first tablet computer was the Newton MessagePad 100, introduced in
1993, which led to the creation of the ARM6 processor core with Acorn
Computers. Apple also developed a prototype PowerBook Duo-based tablet,
the PenLite, but decided not to sell it in order to avoid hurting
MessagePad sales. Apple released several more Newton-based PDAs; the
final one, the MessagePad 2100, was discontinued in 1998.
Apple
re-entered the mobile-computing markets in 2007 with the iPhone.
Smaller than the iPad but featuring a camera and mobile phone, it
pioneered the multitouch finger-sensitive touchscreen interface of
Apple's iOS mobile operating system. By late 2009, the iPad's release
had been rumored for several years. Such speculation mostly talked about
"Apple's tablet"; specific names included iTablet and iSlate.
The actual name is reportedly an homage to the Star Trek PADD, a
fictional device very similar in appearance to the iPad. The iPad was
announced on January 27, 2010, by Steve Jobs at an Apple press
conference at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
Jobs
later said that Apple began developing the iPad before the iPhone, but
temporarily shelved the effort upon realizing that its ideas would
work just as well in a mobile phone. The iPad's internal codename was
K48, which was revealed in the court case surrounding leaking of iPad
information before launch.
