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Apple's iPad, 3 years in: Magical? Some beg to differ

Apple's iPad was released three years ago today. Needless to say, there have been plenty of detractors over the last three years.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
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Steven Jobs introduces the original iPad. It became available in the U.S. on April 3, 2010.
Steven Jobs introduces the original iPad. It became available in the U.S. on April 3, 2010. CNET

Apple released "the magical and revolutionary iPad" three years ago today.

So, what's trending on its anniversary? Well, there's the iPad Death Watch, which highlights what non-believers have said through the years.

Here are some of the comments:

  • Unnecessary: "It seems like a high priced, unnecessary trinket to me." Paul Thurrott, SuperSite for Windows, January 2010. (Note: this kind of comment wasn't that unusual in 2010. Though I quickly became a heavy user, I dismissed it initially as inadequate in some respects. And, even today, while some might consider excessive dumping on the iPad heresy, laptop devotees still don't buy into the tablet paradigm.)
  • No Flash: "No Flash, that's right, you can't watch NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX or HULU." -- Los Angeles Web Design Blog, January 2010. (That same article also slammed the iPad for "no multitasking.")
  • The name: "Before you shell out upwards of $500 for the new Apple Tablet, check out the Nine Worst Things about the device...[including] its name." Bianca Bosker, Huffington Post, January 2010.
  • Is it just another laptop? "I've been to too many meetings with journalists who spent the first 10 minutes of the meeting setting up iPad to look like a laptop." -- Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft, July 2010.
  • Sony will win: "Yes, yes, Apple makes an iPad, but does it make a movie? We will prove that it's not who makes the tablet first who counts, but who makes it better." Howard Stringer, CEO, Sony, August 2011.

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  • No integrated physical keyboard: "Just giving people devices has a really horrible track record. You really have to change the curriculum and the teacher. And it's never going to work on a device where you don't have a keyboard-type input." Bill Gates, June 2012.
  • Apple losing ground to rivals: "For most of the past five years, Apple has led the world in...key areas. In the past couple of years, however, Apple has lost its lead. And in some areas, it has actually fallen behind: Smartphones, Tablets, Pricing, Gadget market share, Cloud-based services and apps." Henry Blodget, January 2013.
  • Just an oversized iPod Touch: "I think this will appeal to the Apple acolytes, but this is essentially just a really big iPod Touch." -- Charles Golvin, Forrester Research, 27 January 2011.

And then we have a video (June 2012), that seems to show that Microsoft was liberal in taking cues from Steve Jobs when it introduced the Microsoft Surface in June 2012. However, note that Microsoft's (former executive) Steve Sinofsky departs from the Jobs' script at the 0:52 mark.