

Apple’s iPad prototypes from 2002-4 pulled from Jony Ive deposition - mikecane
http://9to5mac.com/2012/07/18/earliest-known-photos-of-apples-ipad-prototypes-gallery-pulled-from-jony-ive-deposition

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tieno
It’s pretty astonishing to think that Jony Ive was working on the design of
that thing for eight years until it finally came to market.

This also seems like a perfect demonstration of Apple’s outstanding patience
and timing. Microsoft(’s partners) was (were) making tablets in 2002. (As a
niche product, basically.) Apple could probably also have brought one to
market (probably with some sort of desktop CPU and running a mostly unchanged
OS X) around that time had they really wanted to – but they didn’t.

They waited until the right technology (mobile CPUs, capacitive touch screens,
…) at the right price and the right software was available to them.

Am I completely wrong in suspecting that in many other companies a prototype
like that would either be pushed to market prematurely or killed outright
because it wasn’t possible to turn it into a viable product for five years,
how is that supposed to change now.

