New Delhi, April 6 – The original Apple iPad turns 5 today (April 3, 2015). Former Apple boss, the late Steve Jobs ought to be immensely proud wherever he is: after all, the Cupertino tech major’s invention fell nothing short of creating history.
Look at it this way, the first iPad was launched back in 2010, at a time when a major chunk of critics and buyers were scratching their heads over ‘what the hell Apple was getting in to’. Some of us even laughed it off as some Apple gimmick that was destined for doom.
When Jobs unveiled the original iPad in California in early 2010, many questioned its future. The supposed ill-fortune of the first iPad was narrowed down to a very random ‘why would I want it?’ equation. After all, netbooks were what you call the ‘in-thing’ back then and were sweeping market share left-right and center. But Apple had its own plan. Five years hence, look who’s laughing now!
Apple has convincingly silenced each and every one who questioned the utility of the iPad by its resounding sales figures. Five years ago, this very day the original Apple iPad went on sale in the United States, and the rest as they say is history.
Take a look at the numbers:
– Steve Jobs announced the first iPad on April 3 2010 calling it magical and revolutionary.
-The company went on to sell over 300,000 units of the iPads on the very first day.
-Apple then went on to sell a whopping one million iPad units in one month.
-Two million iPads were sold in less than 60 days.
-The iPad went on to make history in 2011 by featuring in the Guinness World Records which called it “the fastest-selling consumer electronics device” in history
– By January 2015, iPad sales have totaled over a quarter of a billion worldwide (225 million sales to be precise)
-Since 2010, Apple has introduced a whopping 104 different models of the iPad: cellular versions, smaller and thinner versions, it’s all there done that.
– The most recent models are the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini 3.
The numbers are self indicative of the iPad’s popularity. Whatever be the case, it’s no doubt that Apple was able to pull it off quite convincingly. But that’s not all that there is to it. It’s the last product category announced by Jobs and therefore holds a special significance in the life Apple Inc.
Starting off with a 9.7-inch display and a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 CPU coupled with mere 256MB of RAM, the iPad has come a long way. Sadly, the past year or so hasn’t been what you call marvelous for the product.
And it’s not just the iPad, tablets on the whole have seen disappointing sales. Somehow they haven’t managed to trigger a spark among buyers to go out and invest in them as much as companies would like.
Whatever be the case, not every device out there can replicate the fate of the original iPad, and as and when it goes down, the iPad will always be remembered for what it did: create history like no other. We take a moment out of all the hustle to celebrate this day for what it is: Happy 5th birthday Apple iPad.
-INDIA TODAY
