The iPad Grows Up: The Tablet Entering A New Phase Of ‘Classic' Status

The iPad grows up: the tablet entering a new phase of ‘classic’ status

- Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

WHY IT MAY FINALLY BE STARTING TO LOOK LIKE A ‘LAPTOP ALTERNATIVE’

While the announcement of a new generation iPad was one of the less expected developments of Apple’s recent big keynote at Steve Jobs Theater, it would be a mistake to imagine that the long-running tablet line isn’t a significant focus for the Cupertino firm these days. Indeed, you could argue the opposite – that the venerable device is actually now primed for a new lease of life, thanks to a combination of hardware, software and cultural developments.

WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?

Well, you might have noticed that iPads soon won’t even continue running on iOS – the operating system they have long shared with the iPhone – for much longer.

Instead, the tablet is getting its own platform by the name of iPadOS, thereby signaling the seriousness of Apple’s intention to graduate the iPad beyond the status it has long held among many observers as a mere ‘big iPhone’.

THE iPAD’S REALIZATION OF ITS POTENTIAL HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING

A question that has been asked by many people almost from the moment of the original iPad’s launch in 2010, is to what extent the device can be regarded as a convincing laptop alternative.

You might think that such a question is actually founded on a misunderstanding of what the iPad has always been – a highly versatile “third category of the device” that isn’t just a big iPhone, but is also hardly a MacBook.

Sure enough, it’s notable that when you look back at footage of Steve Jobs showing off the first iPad at the 2010 keynote, he focused largely on functions that are not principally considered to be ‘work’ ones – namely web browsing, email, photos, video, music, games, and eBooks.