2012 marks the second year since Apple’s iPad was introduced to the world. During that time a lot has happened. We take a look back at the tablet’s journey until now and speculate on what is still to come.
“There hasn’t been this much hype about a tablet since Moses came down from the Mountain”
Jobs told at the iPad’s launch two years ago. quoting a New York Times article. Speculation over Apples touch tablet had been circulating for months, and the as-yet-unseen product was predicted to be the savior of all things print – including books, newspapers and magazines. When the Apple slate finally went on sale in the US in April 2010. it quickly won over fans. selling 300.000 units within the first 24 hours. Competitors followed with their own tablets including The Android-based Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab, HP’s TouchPad and the BlackBerry PlayBook So far, however, not one of these tablets has been able to unseat the iPad’s dominance.
In October, Metrics firm comScore said the iPad accounted for more than 97 percent of all online web traffic coming from tablets. To date, more than 55 million iPads have been sold, and the device doesn’t show any signs of slowing. Here’s a look back at 11 milestones from the past 24 months of iPad mania…
1. iPad Launched
Apple started working on the iPad before the iPhone, but has to shelved the effort temporarily upon realizing that its ideas would work just as well in a mobile phone. iPad’s code name was K48, but it was revealed in the court case surrounding leaking of iPad information before its launch.
2. iOS 4.2 updates the iPad
Apple released a better version of iOS 4.2 to developers. The first major update of iOS for the iPad came with a number of tweaks and alterations, including a few that greatly enhance the value of the Apple tablet for mobile business users.
3. iOS 4.3 arrives
The second major OS upgrade for the iPad ended a continuing debate over the fate of the tablet’s side switch. With iOS 4.2. Apple changed the behaviour of the switch from a screen orientation lock to a mute switch (similar to the iPhone). But iOS 4.3 brought back the orientation abomination as an option for those who couldn’t understand the obvious advantages of a hardware mute switch. The iPod’s side switch is a mute button by default, but if you want to change that to a rotation lock, you can do so in the iPad’s settings.
4. iPad takes “2″
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 took approximately 73% of the tablet computing market share in the United States. During the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple sold 15.4 million iPads. The iPad 2 has a better processor, a dual core Apple A5 that Apple says is twice as fast as its predecessor for CPU operations and up to nine times as fast for GPU operations. The iPad 2 includes front and back cameras that support the FaceTime video calling application, as well as a three-axis gyroscope. It retains the original’s 10-hour battery life and has a similar pricing scheme.
5. 100,00 Apps
In June 2011 .Apple’s App Store passed the 100,000 iPad-specific app mark. according to MacStories. This was a little more than 14 months after the original iPad hit store shelves.
6. iOS 5.0
In October 2011 .Apple launched iOS 5.0. The operating system update brought wireless iTunes sync, over-the-air updates, and iCloud to the iPad.
7. iBOOK 2 And iBOOK Author
Apple announced on 19 January 2012 that it was geffing into textbooks with IBooks 2 and a textbook creation tool called iBooks Author. Instead of giving students a load of backbreaking paper textbooks, Apple hopes the iPads ability to render animations. photos, videos and other interactive features will reinvigorate the boring world of academic textbooks.
8. Third Generation iPad
At a media event in the US on 7 March 2012 Apple unveiled the ‘new iPad’. The third-generation model sports a host of new features including Retina display screen, A5X chip with quad-core graphics and 5-megapixel iSight camera. The tablet went on sale in Australia, the US. Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore. Switzerland. UK and the US Virgin Islands on 16 March. attracting crowds around the world. In its opening weekend, Apple revealed the new iPad sold three million unIts – a record figure for any iPad launch to date. That’s a look at the iPad over the past 24 months, and the future promises more excitement for the device.