Brief History of the iPad

Over at 52 Tiger, Dave Caolo has started an interesting new series on the history of the iPad. With a retrospective on devices and patent filings that preceded the iPad’s announcement in 2010 and a look at old rumors and speculation, Dave’s “Brief History of the iPad” provides an excellent look at Apple’s fastest growing product.

In part I of the series, Dave’s research focuses on the tablet-like products that were patented or released in the past century. I found this bit particularly interesting:

The first commercial tablet product from Apple appeared in 1979. The Apple Graphics Tablet was meant to compliment the Apple II and use the “Utopia Graphics System” developed by musician Todd Rundgren. 2 That’s right, Todd Rundgren. The FCC soon found that it caused radio frequency interference, unfortunately, and forced Apple to discontinue production.

In part II, published today, Dave collects the most notable rumors that were floating around ahead of the iPad’s introduction in January 2010.

Frog and Apple worked on the Apple IIc, among others, including this prototype design for a tablet PC. This little lovely, called the “Bashful,” features a full-sized keyboard and a stylus. It went through several design iterations, three of which you can see at WIRED. As Engadget points out, this suggests that Apple had been playing with the idea of a tablet device for 26 years.

Make sure to check out 52 Tiger’s “Brief History of the iPad” here.