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Wired named the iPad... in 1999

by Dave Caolo Jul 16th 2010 at 10:30AM


Here's an interesting tidbit from WIRED. Way back in 1999, the magazine ran a short piece in the Hype List section reflecting on the company's recent financial turnaround. You'll remember that Apple introduced the iMac in 1998, which was a huge success. The piece was written in April of 1999, just 3 months before the clamshell iBook was introduced at Macworld Expo in New York City in July of 1999.

Here's the interesting part. While reflecting on Apple's future, the snippet predicts that "The next iMac attack promises new lollipop laptops, a more serious series of professional machines and a wireless handheld dubbed the iPad." [Emphasis ours.] Betsy Mason (WIRED.com's science editor) posted a TwitPic of the article for all to see.

It's an example of a lucky guess, of course (Apple was "i" crazy back then), but still a lot of fun.

[Via ReadWriteWeb]



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Here's an interesting tidbit from WIRED. Way back in 1999, the magazine ran a short piece in the Hype List section reflecting on the...
 

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Aaron H.

I know people that were in the upper reaches at Apple who talked about them having worked on tablets numerous times over the years but they never knew what to do with them as a product. This person said they even had one in their office at various times over the past decade but there was never a compelling product to be had. Obviously, they figured it out.

Most amazing to me is the fact that this was mentioned in wired more than *2 years* before the first iPod came out. Even more prescient, really.

July 16 2010 at 12:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Paul

Just guessing, but with the Thinkpad notebook already existing at this point, perhaps it was a speculative or prerelease name for the iBook.

July 16 2010 at 12:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mat

JJ abrams on Felicity in 1999 predicted it to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EyAdAzIsYo

July 16 2010 at 12:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
altern8tif

Conspiracy theorists rejoice!

July 16 2010 at 12:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Johnny

"…built on an aging operating system."

So they saw the coming of the iPad ten years later, but didn't know about OS X which was less than a year from release.

July 16 2010 at 11:24 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Theo

Was going to post exactly what Park said, but he beat me by 8 minutes

July 16 2010 at 10:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Park

What do you mean "Apple was "i" crazy back then"? Aren't they still?

July 16 2010 at 10:48 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Park's comment
John

I was thinking the same thing

July 16 2010 at 12:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
chrismusaf

As far as I know they weren't very "i" crazy at all yet. Wasn't the iMac the only "i" they had at that point? They hadn't even announced the iPod yet, so this was a very good guess. I remember the iMac keynote when Steve said the "i" stood for internet, even though later iPods didn't get online until the iPod touch.

July 16 2010 at 12:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tom Gregson

More in keeping with the accuracy of Wired's forecasting is their 'Life Expectancy' of the Apple's turnaround: 12 months. Not sure what is more notable: the iPad prediction or the inaccuracy of their expectations for Apple.

July 16 2010 at 10:41 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jon H.

What could that have been referring to?

It's known that Jobs was no fan of the Newton...

July 16 2010 at 10:39 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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