iPad at 15: Hit or a Miss?

By OM Malik-

Om Malik

(Om Malik is a partner at True Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based early-stage venture capital group. Prior to joining True, he was the founder of Gigaom, a pioneering technology blog and media company. The views expressed in this article are his own)

Yesterday slipped away, and I never got a chance to mark the 15th birthday of the iPad, perhaps one of the most misunderstood products in Apple’s lineup. The confusion over the device is not limited to reviewers or buyers but extends to Apple itself, which hasn’t really been able to give it the direction it deserves. Had Steve Jobs not died, the iPad likely would have received more focus, attention, and appreciation.

Over the years, it’s fair to say the iPad has suffered from a subpar operating system experience. There has been a distinct lack of popular and hit applications. Still, one can’t ignore the amazing hardware and its true capabilities. If only there were more interesting apps — not games — that tapped into what Apple packs into it. The device has been a playground for new technologies — screens, LiDAR, M-class silicon, for example.

Still, there is no denying that for children and elders, the iPad is a perfect computer. Children, in particular, seem to be intuitively drawn to it, swiping and interacting with ease. Giving my mother an iPad and seeing it open up her world has been a joy to watch. I am sure that sentiment is shared by others with aging parents. Not surprisingly, those of us who have grown up using desktop computers struggle with the elegance, simplicity, and constraints of the iPad.

I fell in love with the iPad the minute I played with it. I still am! It reminded me of a slate — on which I learned to write from my grandfather. That slate was very analog. “On January 27th, when I first picked up the iPad, I was that 4-year-old boy again. I felt like I was getting that old slate of mine one more time,” I wrote in my first (but not last) essay about the iPad.

Still, my first impression of the iPad was that it was device “made for the consumption of digital media: games, music, photos, videos, magazines, newspapers and e-books. Sure, you can use it to check your email or work on a keynote, but the iPad’s primary purpose is to help you consume the ever-expanding amount of digital content on offer.”

Looking back, I think I might have gotten that right. Up until a year ago, when Vision Pro entered my life, iPad was my primary media consumption device. From reading news and checking out social media to watching YouTube and Netflix or streaming music to my speakers, the iPad was my media appendage. I have used the keyboard to write, do email, and post to my blog. I have edited photos on Adobe Lightroom. Still, media consumption was the primary use case. I have since shifted a lot of my video consumption to the Vision Pro, though I wish YouTube would make an app for Vision Pro (or let someone else do it).

Given the iPad’s positioning, it isn’t surprising that it has, almost from day one, found itself in the iPad vs. MacBook debate, especially with the release of the 13-inch iPad Pro. I stopped paying attention to that debate about a decade ago and started to figure out how to maximize its potential, particularly when I was on the go.

I still prefer to carry my iPad (11-inch) with its Magic Keyboard on short trips, such as to Seattle or Los Angeles. However, I take my MacBook Pro on longer trips, like when visiting Delhi. Even then, I use the iPad on the plane. It’s just easier — I have a mobile internet connection, plus iPadOS is more secure, and you can quickly set up a VPN on iPad and iPhone.

For air travel, the iPad’s portability and connectivity make it an ideal companion. Its compact size fits comfortably on tray tables, and I can stay connected even at 30,000 feet. The added security features of iPadOS provide peace of mind when accessing sensitive information on public networks.

Fifteen years have passed since Steve Jobs introduced the iPad to the world, and its design has proved remarkably timeless. Even rivals — looking at you, Samsung, which blatantly copied the original concept — have not been able to improve upon it. Apple has done its best to make the iPad more powerful and more beautiful. But like a Porsche, the original design was so good that it can only be marginally tweaked.

Based on numbers reported by Apple and estimated by market research firms, Apple sells about 51 million iPads a year. Since 2010, it has sold nearly 770 million iPads. Over the past 15 years, Apple has sold $350 billion worth of iPads, calculated using average selling price and total estimated iPad sales.

While it is talked about, it is quite popular as an “enterprise” device. From airline pilots, onboard crew, to fast food worker to other businesses use iPad as an on-the-go computer. It has obviously gone unnoticed by the popular media, but it keeps the money machine chugging along.

The iPad is expected to bring in more than $27 billion in 2024. That’s more than the collective revenues of Snap, Pinterest, MongoDB, Roblox, Unity, Palantir, Dropbox, Roku, and Cloudflare. Not bad for a product that is often called middling. While the iPad’s success is impressive, I wonder about its potential had Apple’s visionary co-founder Steve Jobs lived to guide its development. Jobs, who introduced the iPad in 2010, might have become…