Why the iPad Succeeded

When Steve Job announced the iPad in January of 2010 and later Apple released it for sale in April of the same year it was the first new slate in ages. It was a brand new device that many companies both larger and smaller than Apple had tried to create for years and popularise but had met with nothing but failure time and time again.

In the late nineties and as recently as the earlier part of this decade Microsoft pushed slate type devices that it called Tablet PCs that ran a cut down version of its desktop operating system called Windows CE but it never managed to make the product a success and beyond a few very tiny verticals like insurance and medical practitioners the products never caught on. The problem may have been that Microsoft as it did with its equally unsuccessful smartphone venture tried to take its desktop operating system and force it onto a device and a platform that was not built for it. Even today Microsoft's claims that it's latest desktop operating system Windows & is fully touch capable and claims that it is tablet friendly.

Create An Ipad App

Apple approached tablet devices from the completely opposite direction as Microsoft and as any other manufacturer had done ever before. It started out with its wildly popular iPhone operating system that millions of users were already familiar with having used it on their iPhones and iPod Touch's. A scaled up version of this operating system that ran on the 10" iPad was the perfect operating system.

A simple operating system that intuitive and did not confuse the first time user with things like file systems and menu which may be very easy to understand for regular computer users but are quite an abstract and difficult to grasp content for the first time computer or iPad user. This simplicity of use combined with the fact that Apple already had an App store that was filled with hundreds of thousands of Applications that were easy to install with just one click and provided all kinds of functionality to the iPad without compromising the stability or the simplicity of the machine.

In addition to the software Apple also gave the iPad the best browse available on the market in the form of webkit Safari browser just like on its desktop operating system. This combined with great build quality and a great screen combined with reasonable data plans from cellular providers in the US meant that the iPad is on right track to sell more than ten million units in its first year on sale.

Why the iPad Succeeded