The Tablet: Apple Announces the iPad

On Wednesday, Steve Jobs stood on a stage in San Francisco and announced the iPad, and the announcement was the answer to a decade of failed predictions. The tablet had been predicted since the dawn of the personal computer, had been promised by every company and delivered by none, and the promise was finally being kept. Apple was betting that the world was ready for a screen between the phone and the laptop, and the bet was the biggest in the company's recent history. The announcement is the January 2010 story, and the story is the lesson: the products that change the industry are the ones that redefine a category instead of joining it.

The Tablet is the subject of this article: what the iPad is, what it is not, what the announcement means, and why the device was greeted with both wonder and doubt. The reveal came on Wednesday, January 27, and the audience left the hall divided. The stock market voted, the pundits debated, and the developers began to plan. This is the story of the announcement, and the story is about the gamble on a new kind of computer.

1. The Stage

The stage was the ritual, and the ritual was the theater. Steve Jobs walked out in his uniform, the black turtleneck and the jeans, and the hall in San Francisco fell quiet. The keynote was the annual performance, the show where Apple revealed its vision of the future, and the performance was the product. The audience was the faithful: the press, the developers, the analysts, the fans who had queued for days. The theater was the frame, and the frame was the message.

The stage was also the pressure. The expectations had been building for months, the rumors had been circling for years, and the word tablet had been whispered since before the iPhone. Every rumor site had a rendering, every analyst had a forecast, and the forecasts were the burden. The company had to deliver a product that justified the wait, and the wait was the pressure. The reveal was the moment of judgment, and the judgment was the moment. The man on the stage carried the weight of the industry's expectations, and the weight was the story.

2. The Reveal

The reveal was the leap, and the leap was the device. Jobs unveiled the iPad: a slab of glass and aluminum, a touchscreen just under ten inches, a device that sat between the phone and the laptop and was neither. The device ran the iPhone operating system, ran the hundreds of thousands of applications, and ran on the same chip that powered the iPhone. The specs were the substance, and the substance was the design. The screen was the keyboard, the finger was the mouse, and the simplicity was the point.

The reveal was also the pitch. The company showed the iPad doing the things people did with computers: browsing the web, reading books, watching movies, playing games, checking mail. The demos were the argument, and the argument was the category. The tablet was not a laptop without a keyboard; the tablet was a new kind of computer for a new kind of computing. The pitch was the vision, and the vision was the bet. The audience saw the device, and the device was the future or the folly, depending on the observer. The reveal was the moment, and the moment was the debate.

3. The Name

The name was the question, and the question was the answer. iPad: the name echoed the iPod, the company's other great i, and the echo was the intention. The name was simple, global, and unmistakably Apple, and the unmistakable was the brand. The jokes arrived within minutes, the jokes about feminine hygiene products, and the jokes were the price of the attention. The name was the talk of the internet, and the talk was the publicity.

The name was also the positioning. The pad was the surface, the flat surface for reading and writing and touching, and the surface was the metaphor. The name promised the intimacy of the notebook and the book, the object you hold in your hands, and the holding was the difference. The name was the category, and the category was the claim. The company was not building a computer that happened to be flat; the company was building the flat computer, the pad, and the pad was the future. The name was the flag, and the flag was the ambition.

4. The Software

The software was the inheritance, and the inheritance was the strength. The iPad ran the iPhone operating system, and the inheritance was the ecosystem: the hundreds of thousands of applications, the App Store, the developers who had learned the platform. The company did not have to start from zero; the company had to start from the largest mobile platform in the world. The head start was the advantage, and the advantage was the plan. The applications would come, the developers would adapt, and the adaptation was the growth.

The software was also the limitation. The critics noted what the iPad did not do: no camera, no multitasking in the traditional sense, no support for the mouse, no Flash in the browser. The limitations were the debate, and the debate was the design. Apple was not building a computer that did everything; Apple was building a computer that did the important things simply. The simplicity was the trade, and the trade was the bet. The software was the soul of the device, and the soul was the argument. The inheritance was the launch, and the launch was the beginning.

5. The Price

The price was the surprise, and the surprise was the strategy. The rumors had predicted a thousand dollars, the analysts had forecast the premium, and the company announced the entry price of four hundred ninety nine dollars. The hall gasped, the analysts recalculated, and the price was the story of the day. The price was the attack: the device was priced like a consumer product, not a business machine. The price was the volume play, and the volume was the plan.

The price was also the risk. The cheaper the device, the thinner the margins, and the margins were the question. The company was betting that the volume would come, that the millions would buy, that the category would grow. The price was the invitation, and the invitation was the gamble. The competitors would struggle to match the price with the ecosystem, and the struggle was the moat. The price was the message, and the message was the market. The company was not selling a luxury; the company was selling the future at a price the future could afford.

6. The Doubt

The doubt was the reaction, and the reaction was the debate. The reviews from the hall were mixed: the wonder of the device, the questions about the purpose. The skeptics asked what the iPad was for, asked why anyone needed a device between the phone and the laptop, asked whether the category would ever exist. The questions were the criticism, and the criticism was the coverage. The blogosphere filled with the takes, and the takes were the noise.

The doubt was also the pattern. The skeptics had doubted the iPod, had doubted the iPhone, and the doubts had been wrong. The history was the comfort of the believers, and the comfort was the argument. The pundits noted that the iPhone had been dismissed as a phone, and the dismissal had been the misjudgment of the decade. The pattern was the hope, and the hope was the debate. The doubt was the emotion of the day, and the day was the beginning. The questions would be answered by the market, and the market was the months ahead.

7. The Market

The market was the vote, and the vote was the split. The stock market moved, the analysts revised their models, and the reaction was the mixed signal. Some investors saw the new category and raised their targets, and some saw the uncertainty and lowered theirs. The split was the story of the trading day, and the story was the uncertainty. The market was the jury, and the jury was out. The verdict would come in the sales numbers, and the numbers were the future.

The market was also the battlefield. The announcement had drawn the lines: the laptop makers watched, the phone makers watched, the book sellers watched, and the watching was the threat. The device crossed the boundaries of the industries, threatened the netbooks, threatened the e-readers, threatened the gaming handhelds. The threats were the map of the war, and the map was the size of the ambition. The market was the arena, and the arena was the world. The company had announced not a product but a position, and the position was the claim on the future.

8. The Lesson

The lesson of the announcement was about the category, and the category was the creation. The best products in technology do not compete in an existing category; they invent a new one, and the invention is the disruption. The iPad was the latest example of the Apple method: not the best laptop, not the biggest phone, but a new thing that made the old categories feel old. The lesson was that the industry is remade by the people who refuse to play by its rules.

The lesson was also about the timing. The tablet had been tried for a decade and had failed, and the failure was the warning. The difference was the moment: the touchscreen, the app store, the broadband, the ecosystem, all of it had finally arrived. The timing was the luck, and the luck was the preparation. The announcement is the January 2010 story, and the story is the lesson: the products that change the industry are the ones that redefine a category instead of joining it. The reveal came on Wednesday, and the market would render its verdict in the months to come.

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