Yes, this is what one of the earliest iPad prototypes looked like, and it’s from a decade ago. That’s right, “while it was known that the iPad was in development for at least two years before release – and in Jobs’s head for decades – it now seems there was an iPad knocking around Apple HQ as long ago as 2002 – in prototype form, at least.” Continue reading for more pictures and information.
Ive, when asked about the mock-up at the deposition, said: ‘My recollection of first seeing it is very hazy, but it was, I’m guessing, sometime between 2002 and 2004. ‘I remember seeing this and perhaps models similar to this when we were first exploring tablet designs that ultimately became the iPad.’
So, as the website suggests, ‘these photos may be the earliest iPad mockups you’ll ever see’. Key differences between what we see now and how the iPad was envisioned then include a thinner frame (or ‘bezel’ around the edge of the screen, a lack of the ubiquitous single button, and the tablet seems a little chunkier than the thin devices we see today.
