Introduction
When the iPad arrived in 2010, it felt inevitable. A thin slab that woke instantly, lasted all day, and invited you to touch your information directly: that was the magic. Steve Jobs framed it as a new category between phone and laptop. It was priced to reach many hands, shaped around the idea that fingers were the best pointing devices most people would ever need. For a while, that definition worked: the iPad grew into a phenomenal media machine, a learning companion for kids, and a travel friendly computer for light work.
Then the world moved. Creators wanted desktop grade performance in a tablet. Developers pushed for better multitasking and real file handling. Students asked for note taking that felt like paper, plus keyboards that turned a tablet into a credible writing tool. Apple answered: faster chips, Pencil support, laptop style keyboards, trackpads, and eventually iPadOS as a distinct platform. To some, that looked like Apple dismantling Jobs’ original blueprint. Here is the uncomfortable truth: that is a good thing. The iPad only became what people needed once Apple let it outgrow its founding myths.
What Steve Jobs Got Brilliantly Right
Jobs’ vision rested on a few pillars that still matter today:
- Simplicity first: you picked up an iPad and understood it in ten seconds.
- Battery for a full day: no anxiety about power outlets.
- Instant response: tap, scroll, pinch, repeat.
- Price that widened the audience: enough value to make the choice feel easy.
By betting on fingers rather than a stylus, Apple cut friction for casual use. There was wisdom in that stance. For reading, browsing, photos, and video, nothing beats a direct touch interface. This foundation is why the iPad succeeded so quickly. Millions did not need a manual, a driver, or a setup ritual. They needed a window on apps and content, and the iPad delivered.
The World Changed: So Did Expectations
The next decade did not stand still. Cloud storage matured. Remote work became normal for many. Video creation, digital illustration, 3D modeling, and note taking became everyday skills, not niche crafts. A new generation of students grew up expecting a single device to sketch a diagram, annotate a PDF, edit a clip, and submit an assignment. Field workers wanted rugged mobility with real power on tap. Doctors, pilots, and photographers needed precision input and accessories that matched professional workflows.
The original iPad was perfect for consumption. These new realities demanded creation at a higher level. That meant embracing tools Jobs resisted and loosening rules that once kept the iPad safely distinct from the Mac.
The First Cracks: Pro Hardware Without Pro Freedom
Apple made a decisive turn with the iPad Pro. The hardware rocketed ahead: larger high refresh displays, better speakers, desktop class chips, and storage that rivaled laptops. But for a time the software lagged. Early Pro models ran a mobile operating system that felt tuned for tapping web pages and flipping through photos. Power was abundant, yet getting at that power felt constrained: limited multitasking, a young Files app, and workflows that asked you to bounce between share sheets rather than manage projects with intent.
The Apple Pencil arrived as a paradox: a stylus from a company that once mocked styluses. It was not required, and it did not betray the fingertip first philosophy. Doctors diagrammed. That one accessory revealed how much latent potential the iPad had been carrying all along.
iPadOS: The Moment the Training Wheels Came Off
The split of iPadOS from iOS signaled a mindset shift. From there the tablet gained real capabilities:
- Multiple windows and more flexible split views that let you keep reference material beside a primary task.
- A Files app that behaved closer to a real file manager with external drive support and folder hierarchies.
- Cursor and trackpad support that unlocked laptop like editing and selection.
- External display support with more sophisticated layouts for desk bound work.
- Professional grade apps that brought serious timelines, layers, brushes, and plugins to a touch device.
None of this diluted what made the iPad great. It expanded the spectrum of what the device could be, from couch to studio to office to job site.
The End of a Sacred Cow: Stylus and Cursor As Features, Not Crutches
Jobs’ anti stylus quip was about mandatory styli and clunky interfaces. The reality on today’s iPad is different. Pencil is an optional precision instrument that disappears when you set it down. It enables the kinds of work where finger input is not enough: fine line control, pressure and tilt dynamics, barrel rotation, and natural handwriting. The result is closer to a sketchbook than a touchpad could ever be.
The cursor is similar. It is there when you need to edit a spreadsheet, refactor code, or place a clip on a frame accurate timeline. It does not dominate the experience. It coexists with touch. That blend respects the iPad’s roots while admitting that some jobs go faster with a pointer.
Cannibalization Fears: The Strategy That Slowed Everything
For years Apple seemed to walk a careful line. The Mac remained the productivity anchor. The iPad remained the nimble companion. Prices overlapped, hardware converged, and yet key software and interface decisions often kept the iPad from replacing a laptop for demanding users. From a business standpoint, that caution was understandable. From a user standpoint, it sometimes felt like limbo: a device bursting with potential that still required workarounds.
The shift of the last few cycles shows Apple becoming more comfortable with overlap. The company now treats the Mac and iPad as complementary choices rather than rigidly separate silos. That change is healthy. It lets people pick based on form factor and workflow rather than artificial limits.
What “Destroying the Original Vision” Really Means
This phrase sounds harsh. In practice it means Apple stopped protecting the iPad from adulthood. Three shifts tell the story:
- From consumption to creation: The center of gravity moved. Digital art suites, non linear editors, professional note systems, CAD viewers, and audio tools turned the iPad into a credible creation machine.
- From single task to multi task: The tablet learned to juggle. Windows, stage style organization, and external displays made it realistic to research, write, and edit at once.
- From purity to pragmatism: The addition of Pencil, keyboard, and trackpad acknowledged reality. Some tasks need a pen. Some need keys. Some need both at the same time.
These are not betrayals. They are evolutions that keep the iPad relevant to the work people actually do.
Who Wins: And What Still Needs Work
Clear winners
- Illustrators and designers: Low latency Pencil input with sophisticated brush engines and color tools gives a paper like feel plus digital power.
- Students and educators: Handwritten notes that convert to text, quick annotation of slides and PDFs, and keyboards that travel light make the iPad a versatile school companion.
- Video and photo creators: High quality displays, large storage options, and robust editing apps enable on the go rough cuts, color tweaks, and delivery ready exports.
- Field professionals: Pilots, healthcare workers, and inspectors benefit from rugged mobility, device management features, and accessories like barcode readers or specialized mounts.
- Writers: The combination of distraction resistant apps and a laptop style keyboard invites focus while still allowing easy research and reference.
Areas still calling for improvement
- Consistent windowing: Power users want less mental overhead when arranging multiple apps across screens.
- Background processing: Certain pro tasks benefit from more persistent background activity with clear user control.
- File and project portability: Moving complex projects between iPad and desktop should feel trivial in every major app, including media relinking and plugin parity.
- Peripheral flexibility: Pro audio and video users continue to ask for deeper driver like controls and low latency routing that match studio demands.
- Multi user options: Education and family owners would value more granular profiles and storage partitions on a single device.
None of these gaps undermine what the iPad already does well. They point to how the platform can keep maturing without losing its touch first soul.
The Mac And iPad: A Healthier Relationship
It is tempting to frame this as a zero sum game. That misses the point. The Mac excels at sprawling, many window projects with heavyweight automation and deep filesystem control. The iPad excels at immediacy, mobility, and direct interaction. Together they form a continuum: start a sketch by hand, finish the vector art on a desktop; rough cut a video on location, conform and mix on a workstation; draft with a keyboard in a café, polish with a large monitor at home.
Apple has leaned into this continuum. Features that let you pass work between devices, control multiple screens with one set of inputs, and sync documents in place reduce the friction of moving. The message is clear: choose based on context, not on a company’s protective instincts.
Buying Advice: Pick the Vision That Fits Your Work
- Casual users: If your day is reading, streaming, email, and light documents, a standard iPad or a thin and light model will feel perfect. Touch first apps keep things effortless.
- Writers and knowledge workers: The moment a trackpad enters the picture, navigation and editing speed up. A keyboard with sturdy hinges and good key travel can make all day work realistic.
This is not about replacing a Mac at all costs. It is about choosing the form factor that removes the most friction from your tasks.
The Bigger Lesson: Principles Are Guides, Not Handcuffs
Founding principles are valuable, but they should not become handcuffs. The iPad’s original identity made it successful. Clinging to that identity too tightly would have frozen it in time. By letting the tablet adopt a stylus, a cursor, real multitasking, and pro apps, Apple admitted that the device had outgrown its childhood. The company did not discard the iPad’s soul. It accepted that different jobs demand different tools.
Conclusion
“Destroying Steve Jobs’ vision” sounds like sacrilege. In reality it is a recognition that technology must serve people as their needs expand. What Jobs got right remains: simplicity, delight, battery life, immediacy. What Apple added was maturity: precision input when you want it, keyboards and trackpads when you need them, software that treats the iPad as more than a passive screen. The result is a device that still shines on a sofa yet stands tall at a desk, in a studio, or out in the field.
That is not a betrayal. It is growth. The iPad was born as a beautiful tablet for everyone. It became a capable computer for anyone. The sooner we stop measuring it against a 2010 ideal and start judging it by the work it enables in 2025, the clearer the verdict becomes: moving past the original vision was not only inevitable, it was the right call.