Photos of iPad Prototype from 2002

An ongoing lawsuit between Apple and Samsung has revealed some photos of an early iPad prototype. The images come from a deposition from Apple’s famous designer, Jonathan Ive.

According to Ive, this prototype came between 2002 and 2004.

[ba-quote]My recollection of first seeing it is very hazy, but it was, I’m guessing, sometime between 2002 and 2004, some but it was I remember seeing this and perhaps models similar to this when we were first exploring tablet designs that ultimately became the iPad.[/ba-quote]

The photos reveal that the early prototype had a 12-inch screen with no home button and was nearly one inch thick. The iPad is certainly bulky by todays standards, but it does look similar to iPods in that era. Technology has advanced enough over the last decade for Apple to make iPads two thirds slimmer than the early prototype.

Steve Jobs revealed during the D10 conference that the iPad came before the iPhone, but they decided to put the iPad on the shelf because the iPhone was more important. Once the iPhone was well established they took the iPad off the shelf and went back to work on it.

Originally posted 2012-07-20 00:22:02.