About

The iPad is a tablet computing device created by Apple using the iOS mobile operating system, which is capable of running a variety of applications downloaded off the Apple App Store.

History

On January 27th, 2010, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the iPad at a press conference in San Francisco (shown below, left). In April, Wi-Fi and 3G versions of the device were released, selling over one million units by the following month. On March 2nd, 2011, Jobs unveiled the iPad 2, a thinner version of the tablet device with upgraded processors and cameras (shown below, right).

On October 23rd, 2012, Apple announced an updated 4th generation iPad with improved hardware and a 7.9 inch iPad Mini tablet. On October 22nd, 2013, Apple announced the iPad Air tablet equipped with a Retina Display. In October 2014, the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 devices were released.

iPad Pro

On September 9th, 2015, Apple announced the upcoming iPad Pro tablet device along with the Apple Pencil digital stylus (shown below).

Reception

Online Reaction

On January 27th, 2010, the /r/ipad^[2] subreddit was launched for discussions about the mobile device. On January 29th, YouTuber jacksfilms uploaded a parody of the iPad announcement titled "The Magical iPad" (shown below). Within six years, the video gained over 3.7 million views and 7,700 comments.

On October 29th, 2012, YouTuber JLE uploaded a parody promotional video for the iPad Mini (shown below, left). On November 2nd, YouTuber Tobuscus uploaded a parody commercial for the iPad mini (shown below, right). In three years, the videos gathered upwards of 2.7 million views and 4.6 million views respectively.

On September 10th, 2015, YouTuber Ben Bigg uploaded a parody video titled "WTF is an Apple Pencil," which mocked the Apple Pencil device unveiled for the iPad Pro (shown below, left). That day, YouTuber jacksfilms uploaded a mock review for the iPad Pro (shown below, right).

iPads as Plates

On August 2nd, 2018, Mashable ^[3] published an article detailing a trend in which restaurants served food on iPads. One of the earliest examples of this dates backs to April 2nd, 2014. That day, YouTuber Chris Dwyer posted a video of an experience at the restaurant Arzak, during he which he was served lobster atop an iPad. The video (shown below) received more than 3,000 views in four years.

Over the next several years, customers at various restaurants posted images on social media of food being served on iPads and tablets. On December 27th, 2016, Twitter ^[4] user @linecook tweeted a text message coversation about and photograph of food being served on iPads at the restaurant Quince. The post (shown below, left) received more than 70 retweets and 100 likes in two years. Twitter^[5] user @loustejskal responded (shown below, right) with another photograph and the comment, "are you guys serious or trolling. lol this is at Arzak in spain."

On December 29th, 2016, Qunice's chef posted about the dish on Facebook ^[6] and Instagram. ^[7] He wrote on Facebook, "The current presentation has proved to be a humorous and playful albeit unconventional way of engaging in that conversation. The video displayed on the IPad depicts the scene of a truffle hunt revealing the moment when the truffle is revealed and detected by the Romagnolo dog. The dish itself consists of a white truffle fritter with salt roasted celeriac and roasted porcini mushroom. The fritter is dusted with a dehydrated porcini powder as porcini mushrooms and truffles are in season at the same time and eat well together. Another component to the dish is a crisp of chestnut puree and roasted chestnut." The Facebook post received more than 65 reactions, while the Instagram post (shown below) received more than 500 likes and 9,000 views.

Search Interest

External References