15 years of the iPad: the eternal fifth wheel on the wagon
The iPad was an instant bestseller and soon became the "future of computing" for Apple. What has remained of it after 15 years.
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An armchair and a side table: this unusual stage design was the first surprise at Apple's special event on January 27, 2010, at which Steve Jobs presented the first iPad. The armchair played a central role: instead of striding dynamically across the stage as usual, the Apple founder sat down for a full fifteen minutes and calmly demonstrated the iPad user interface and various applications.
Just three years after the ground-breaking introduction of the iPhone and two years after the spectacular unveiling of the compact MacBook Air, Apple launched another new product category onto the market. The iPad was intended to bridge the gap between the two other device classes and fill a supposed void. However, this was only possible if the tablet was significantly better than smartphones and laptops in certain areas, Jobs explained at length at the time. Accordingly, the iPad would have to excel in areas such as surfing, e-mails, media consumption and games.
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It had little in common with the tablets already in existence at the time: the iPad was thin, light and promised 10 hours of battery life. The simple touch operation with app single-tasking and the self-contained operating system brought Apple from the iPhone to a device with a much larger screen. Even the price of 500 US dollars was manageable by Apple standards.
First a sales hit, then stagnation
Right from the start, the iPad proved to be a bestseller. The gold rush in the App Store quickly led to a well-stocked range of iPad apps, including many "HD" versions of iOS apps. At the same time, Apple went full throttle with the further development of the hardware: the second generation already stood out significantly from the first iPad, followed in 2012 by the first model with a Retina display and a more compact iPad mini.
At the same time, however, the initial buying enthusiasm waned considerably. Many owners quickly realized that they were mainly using the iPad for the applications that Jobs had demonstrated in such detail and that the hardware would be good enough for many years to come. With the iPad Pro (including Pencil) that followed in 2015, Apple tried to counteract this and quickly positioned the tablet as the "future of computing" – then let another five years pass before support for a mouse and trackpad followed. The Magic Keyboard cover, which makes the tablet a blatant laptop alternative, has also only been available since 2020.
iPadOS remains iOS
Despite the renaming to iPadOS, the operating system has not yet been separated from iOS. The options for multitasking, automation and cross-app workflows have remained limited, and basic system tools – such as the clipboard manager – are nowhere to be found. Software can only be distributed via the App Store and remains subject to Apple's rules, commission and testing, which has so far even applied to alternative app stores in the EU.
The manufacturer has not consistently pursued new directions such as the Stage Manager window management system: even at the beginning of 2025, only four windows (plus slide over and picture-in-picture) can be opened simultaneously on the iPad screen (or a connected external monitor). This is despite the fact that iPads now contain the same powerful hardware that powers an entire macOS.
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There is currently no indication that this could change any time soon. As long as iPads continue to bring in as much revenue as Macs do, the manufacturer seems to have little motivation to make radical changes. Instead of heralding the "future of computing", after 15 years the iPad has remained a nice stopgap between smartphone and laptop – and the fifth wheel on the wagon. Anyone who likes to use their tablet from the comfort of their armchair, as Steve Jobs once did, should not be bothered by this.
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