The iPad is Apple’s entry into an entirely new product category, launched January 27th, 2010 and made available to the public on April 3rd. According to Steve Jobs, “the tablet actually came first”, which is rather interesting considering that it was initially not as sophisticated as the iPhone in some ways.
The current model as of this writing is the March 7th 2012 one, which doubled display resolution (2048×1536) and added a 5 megapixel camera and LTE support without significant changes in either form factor or design:
The first refresh dates back to March 2nd 2011 and added front and rear cameras, more RAM and a few other tidbits:
The picture below portrays a generic 1st gen model (the 3G one has an antenna strip across the top):
This page will be mostly a link dump of reviews and opinion pieces regarding it, updated on an irregular basis.
| Date | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | ||
| Mar 11 | iFixit teardown | In which we learn it’s much the same. |
| Mar 2 | Apple Launches iPad 2 | PR |
| 2010 | ||
| Jun 22 | Apple Has Sold 3 Million iPads In Less Than Three Months | Links to the PR |
| Apple has sold three million iPads in 80 days | Effing impressive. | |
| Jun 21 | Unlimited data option disappears from iPads, AT&T tells grandfathered customers not to worry | Amazing. |
| AT&T’s iPad Security Breach | Interesting. I have no idea how IMSIs are derived on most operators, but still, it wouldn’t be as simple as spoofing that. | |
| Jun 17 | The ugliest hacker | A little freelance profiling. No matter what the guys’ opinions are, this isn’t really journalism… |
| Jun 16 | AT&T hacker’s home raided, drugs found, dude detained | Not that this solves anything whatsoever, mind you. |
| Could AT&T’s iPad Email Leak Really Be A Much, Much More Serious Security Breach? | In practice, not much, because most people wouldn’t bother. | |
| Jun 15 | AT&T-iPad security breach may be worse than first thought | Oh well… |
| Goatse: And Now It’s Time To Tell You About The Huge Hole In Safari That Can Be Used To Take Over Your iPad | A bit more detail. | |
| iPad still has a major browser vulnerability, says group behind AT&T security breach | Interesting, but not for long. 4.0 is around the corner. | |
| AT&T Explains iPad Privacy Breach | Lovely. | |
| Verizon MiFi surgically implanted in iPad to create world’s first bionic tablet | An impressive hack. | |
| Jun 11 | FBI Opens Probe of AT&T iPad Customer Email Address Breach | The mainstream news catches up. |
| FBI Orders Gawker Media To Preserve All Records About iPad Security Breach | Uh-oh. | |
| iPadgate: The FBI is on the case | Oh boy. | |
| Jun 10 | Reuters, News Corp. And Other Mainstream Media Blow It Again—Pass Up iPad Security Breach Scoop They’re Now All Reporting | Newsmongering, taken to a new level. |
| iPad 3G user e-mail addresses leaked by AT&T servers | No new facts. | |
| Apple’s Worst Security Breach: 114,000 iPad Owners Exposed | The title should read “AT&T’s Security Breach”, given that it seems like it is their provisioning system that is at fault here… | |
| The great iPad security breach | A bit more on this. | |
| AT&T Responds To The iPad Privacy Breach | Saying they weren’t contacted. | |
| AT&T breach reveals 114,000 iPad owners’ email addresses, including some elite customers | No new facts here. | |
| ATT Leaks Emails Addresses of 114,000 iPad Users | Loads of fun in the comments. | |
| Jun 01 | Analysts hastily revise iPad numbers | It’s fun to see the spread in predictions. |
| The great iPad death watch, Part 2 | Claim chowder, a la Gruber. | |
| May 31 | Apple sells two million iPads, international launch likely the main culprit | And then there were two. |
| May 30 | ‘Had it crashed? Or was it being sarcastic?’ Charlie Brooker on the iPad | The Guardian weighs in. |
| May 29 | Vodafone Australia will offer unlimited data plan for iPads | Almost comparable to broadband pricing over here. |
| May 20 | Analyst: Apple selling more iPads than Macs, at the moment | Not bad. |
| iPads satisfy 9 out of 10 new owners | Of course people were expecting a camera – I’d bet most people who respond to an online survey would be aware of the rumors and had that expectation. | |
| May 18 | Early sales data suggests iPad cannibalizing iPods, not Macs | Makes perfect sense – people get that the iPad is a complement, and people who would buy an iPod Touch as a sort of PDA but who want a bigger screen will go for the iPad instead. |
| May 17 | Apple: 3G iPads will be unlocked in Japan | That settles it. |
| May 13 | 26% of Web video is now iPad-ready | Gotta love meaningless statistics. |
| May 10 | Quick Guide to iPad 3G Data Plans Around the World | Interesting, since some don’t seem to be in line with “standard” mobile broadband tariffs. |
| Apple iPad review | No real news here. | |
| iPad international data plans roundup: Japan gets SIM-locked devices, everyone pays handsomely | Whoa. | |
| May 07 | iPads abroad: Ship dates and prices | More non-mentions of Portugal. |
| Nine countries get iPad on May 28, nine more in July | ||
| iPad Available in Nine More Countries on May 28 | Ah well… | |
| Orange UK iPad data tariffs announced | Interesting. | |
| May 06 | How the iPad gobbles up netbook sales | I’m extremely skeptical the effect actually exists, but the charts are interesting enough to keep a local copy around.   |
| How To Convert a SIM to a MicroSIM with a Meat Cleaver! | Cutting edge technology. | |
| How to create your own Micro SIM card using a chef knife and some scissors | ||
| May 04 | iPad WiFi + 3G: jailbroken, dismantled, 3G video criticized | 64kbps? Seriously? |
| May 03 | iPad sales hit the 1 million mark in less than a month | It’s gonna be tough getting one. |
| iPad 3G sold out in 49 of 50 stores | ||
| Apple sells 1,000,000 iPads in revolution’s first month | one cool million. | |
| May 02 | iLounge on iPad 3G Battery Life | Includes screenshots that point to an APN settings menu. |
| May 01 | iPad WiFi + 3G day is today; here’s our data plan primer | Again, data tariffs. It’s 2004 back in the States. |
| Ins and Outs of the 3G iPad AT&T Service Plans | I found this piece somewhat funny because of the way several things along the way (such as the SIM having a data-only MSISDN) were pointed out as novelties – it’s as if people don’t actually use mobile broadband in the US (contrast that with the current traffic plans we have starting at Eur 15…) | |
| iFixit’s iPad 3G Teardown | Wow, look, there are other bits inside. | |
| Apr 30 | iPad Wi-Fi + 3G Available Today in the U.S. | Still a way to go before it gets here… |
| Apr 26 | iPad Usability: First Findings From User Testing | Oddly enough, this was an application-centric test, not a platform test. And many of the apps don’t follow the common tenets of Apple UI design, but they did make the full report public. |
| iPad Camera Connection Kit has hidden USB capabilities | Interesting, and probably fun to fool around with. | |
| Apple iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter not accomplishing the simplest of tasks | Bad title, good link inside with detailed info. | |
| iPad x-rayed, everything looks fine | Oh, for crying out loud… | |
| Apr 23 | Best Practices for Creating a Presentation on a Mac for Use on an iPad | Pretty straightforward stuff. |
| iPad Camera Connection Kit Works Simply and Well | Interesting, but hardly ground-breaking. | |
| Apr 21 | External Link: Time Magazine Find No Reason for Israel’s iPad Ban | How quaintly interesting. |
| Convert Mini SIM in to Micro SIM for iPad 3G Yourself | Easy as pie. | |
| Apr 20 | Apple names April 30th, 5PM as date and time for 3G iPad retail launch | Good news. Better expect a torrent of re-reviews by the end of the month… |
| Apr 19 | iPad 3G coming by May 7th | I suppose this will mean a bit of timescale compression… |
| iPad 3G: ‘End of April’ slips to May 7 | Seems reasonable, considering the overall delays. | |
| Apr 16 |
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The usual hidden caption for this one reads: Maybe we’re all gonna die, but we’re gonna die in really cool ways. |
| Apr 14 | Apple delays international launch of iPad due to high demand | Surprisingly strong US demand, which is excellent – and it’s hard not to find someone running this story, which is great Marketing. |
| iPad international launch delayed until the end of May | ||
| iPad international launch postponed | ||
| Strong Demand Causes iPad Shortages, Delays International Release | Apple PR. | |
| Don’t Take Your iPad to Israel | This is just surreal. | |
| Apr 08 | iSuppli: $499 iPad components estimated at $260 | As good a guess as anyone else’s. |
| Apr 07 | The iPad | Gruber’s usual mix of “I told you so” and insightful commentary. |
| Apr 06 | iPad Streaming Video and More | An in-depth look at doing HTTP video streaming leveraging segmentation and byte offset requests. |
| The Moderate’s Position on iPad Openness | An odd bit of sanity. | |
| Apple’s A4 system-on-chip gets decoupled from iPad, investigated with the help of an X-ray | The amount of time and effort people spend doing this kind of thing is staggering. | |
| Apr 05 | iPad Orientation CSS | Very, very useful way to change web UI according to orientation. |
| iBooks and ePub | A very good and comprehensive intro to how the iBooks app uses ePub – the metadata injection is nasty, but I expect that stuff like Calibre will be able to deal with this on the fly – or else I’ll just code a simple filter. | |
| Apple Sells Over 300,000 iPads First Day | The official word. | |
| Quick review of Apple’s overpriced iPad case | The gallery is interesting, and the case doesn’t look half bad for typing on the go. | |
| Slashdot iPad Review | Paraphrasing: “No Flash. Less usability than a netbook. Lame.” | |
| Apr 04 | New iPad launch-day estimate: 600,000–700,000 sold | Let’s see the tally when the dust settles. |
| Apr 03 | iPad Teardown – iFixit | Surprisingly compact insides, all things considered. And a mammoth battery. |
| First Impressions | Paul Thurrott, damning it with faint praise (an art I previously thought exclusive to the British). | |
| Apple iPad review | MacWorld weighs in. | |
| Consumer Reports Electronics Blog: Charging the iPad: Hit or miss | Interesting, in the sense that there might be a few bad surprises in store for whom, like me, is used to charge every single gadget from any random USB port. | |
| Macworld The iPad’s charging challenge explained | So putting it to sleep helps, which is nice to know. | |
| Andy Ihnatko on the iPad and Multitasking | Another vote for the idiocy of hawking pseudo-features that have no practical use in context. | |
| Why the iPad and iPhone don’t Support Multitasking | A more in-depth but equally sane view. | |
| Apple iPad review | Pretty much the kind of review you’d expect. | |
| Apr 02 | Updated FAQ: What you need to know about the iPad | Very comprehensive. |
| Why I won’t buy an iPad | Cory Doctorow’s peculiar brand of myopia. | |
| Apr 01 | The iPad Launch: Can Steve Jobs Do It Again? | Stepneh Fry on TIME. |
| State of the Art – David Pogue’s Review of the iPad | And he does it twice, just for kicks. | |
| Mar 31 | Verdict is in on Apple iPad: It’s a winner | “It’s too big for your pocket” – oh really? |
| Apple iPad Review: Laptop Killer? Pretty Close. | I still can’t believe Walt missed “tabs”. | |
| iPad is pure innovation – one of best computers ever | ||
| Mar 30 | The iPad: Apple’s Next Gold Rush | A nice infographic that deserves to be stored locally:  |
| Mar 24 | iPad Stencil for Omnigraffle | for UI mock-up design using OmniGraffle |
| Mar 13 | http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/03/13/day-1-estimate-120000-ipads-sold/ | That’s a lot of padding on Apple’s regular cash flow. |
| iPad Pre-Orders: For Idiots Only | The contrarian view – rather sad, really. | |
| Mar 12 | iPad Gets New Button: Screen Rotation Lock | Still no sign of a front-facing camera, though – I’d have loved to have that. |
| Feb 10 | iPad Component Costs Leave Room for Price Cuts | Utter balderdash, since there is no way iSupply can justify that $219.35 figure without the device being on the market. |
| Feb 09 | Does the iPhone OS Need Multitasking? | Some people’s fixation with multitasking never ceases to amaze me. |
| Feb 08 | Apple Management: iPad Prices Could Change | On other news, the weather could, too. |
| Survey tries quantifying iPad hype, suggests interest waning | Ah, the utter meaninglessness of statistics. Still, the chart is interesting enough to keep around to compare with actual sales later on:  |
|
| Feb 07 | Apple Makes at Least $200 Per iPad Sold: Report | Guesstimates are the new news. |
| Feb 05 | How to compete with iPad | The ironic bit is that if any of the competitors actually read this and get it, then the iPad will still have won. |
| Feb 01 | Is the iPad a Kindle Killer? | A decent point-per-point comparison with the Kindle. |
| iPad Camera rumor becoming a reality? We think so. | Weird, but interesting. | |
| Jan 30 | Hands-on with the Apple iPad – it does make sense | Andy’s view – apparently he isn’t aware of the new shared app data feature in the SDK, but he does have a point: if you can’t handle mail attachments in iWork apps, you can’t really interact with other people work-wise. |
| Jan 28 | iPad About | Stephen Fry writes down his take on the launch event. |
| Jan 27 | Editorial: Engadget on the Apple iPad | A grab-bag of mixed opinions. |
| Jan 27 | iPad: The (attempted) Windows killer | Michael Mace has an intriguing view. |