Okay Geek Farm
Concepts - What the iPad could have been
Brandon Davenport
Before the Apple Tablet was dubbed “iPad” - it was just a series of rumors, which to most of us, felt like wishes. The Apple Tablet was going to be the biggest and the best new thing from Apple, and the rumors seemed to keep coming. Once the first signs of the Apple Tablet came into view, people started going nuts. Concept videos and photos popped up everywhere, and “leaked” photos of the device were starting to emerge. We knew Apple was going to release a tablet, but what were we going to get?
Early Concepts
The first concepts emerged when OS X Tiger was still the latest from Apple, and of course, that is what the Tablet would be running.
Some of the concepts came out even before the iPhone was thought up, which is not surprising because the iPad has been in the making for over 10 years.
Most of the early concepts were basically a screen, which was “touch” (Multitouch was not announced) and had a number of USB, SD card and CD slots.
Slowly, the concept started to catch on, and soon enough some investigation with Apple started, and the wishes became rumors.
The rumored Specs
This was mostly wishful thinking, not rumors - but it was exciting nevertheless. Blogs were all over the fact that the Apple Tablet was un-officially real, and they juiced every bit they could out of it. The “specs” ranged from a stylus, webcams, running OS X and as soon as stuff like this started to flow out to the public, Apple retracted any knowledge of a Tablet.
Imagine having a Tablet running OS X, with a webcam, on-screen keyboard, USB ports, 3.2MP Camera and 10 hours of battery life? “Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it?” - Everyone was thinking that, but at the same time we all wanted it so badly!
iPad Leakage
As soon as people got word of the Apple Tablet being “confirmed” to be real - leaked video footage started to pop up around the internet, and people went nuts, again. Most of it looked like a mobile version of OS X, and it was always blowing our minds. The one plot hole was, they were all a little different from each other.
People started to get even more excited and the Apple Tablet became a world-wide sensation, even though Apple itself, denied all claims that they were working on a Tablet. Even though Apple denied it, it felt right, and for some reason it would come true.
Their latest creation
When news broke of Apple letting us see their “Latest Creation” - there was an up-roar of excitement. Every news organization was covering it, every trending topic on Twitter was to do with the Apple Tablet, and the internet was pulsating with the hopes of our wishes, coming true.
It was the moment Steve swiped the “Slide to unlock” on the iPad during the keynote, we all knew we were about to see our dreams un-fold, but everyone new something was a bit off. It was so plain, clean; “there couldn’t be a USB port on there?” we thought, “Where is the little dot for the camera?”…
What we ended up getting
Most of us still don’t know what we got - its a tablet, but its an iPod touch, but it has a data plan. So many questions we have, but all of these questions, Apple answers and we just don’t see the “sense” in how we are supposed to use it. Its an endless cycle of pointless arguments and debate with co workers and Apple fan-boys. But soon, it would become clear.
Apples plan was to make a device that everyone would like. They have sold over 200,000 units, so it is a fact that 200,000 people love it, so what’s the problem? People are going to buy it regardless of “exclusivity” - its going to be the “Must have” tablet. We should own nothing else.
Remember when the iPhone came out? “Why the hell do I need music in my phone?”, “What! 600 dollars?”, “I can’t have 3rd party apps on it?” - this is what everyone was saying, and yet thousands of people were lining up for hours at Apple stores. It was a useless device to most, but now when we think of a smartphone, the “iPhone” pops into our head.
Whatever Apple does, we keep buying their products. They work, they are fun and they are shiny and clean, and Apple has never looked back, or given us what we want, they give us what they want us to have, and it seems that lately, its growing on us. Maybe I am just crazy, but we seem addicted to Apple`s products, and it has never hurt us. Could Apple be the perfect drug?
