article_snippet.sent: When the first iPad launched on 3 April 2010, opinion was split on how popular the product would turn out to be, and whether the tablet market would grow.
article_snippet.sent: Apple's first generation iPad was revealed by the late Steve Jobs in early 2010 (pictured), but at the time it was met with ridicule as experts struggled to see how it would prove popular.
article_snippet.sent: When Steve Jobs revealed the original iPad in California in early 2010, it was met with derision by many technology experts, who failed to see how such a product would prove popular.
article_snippet.sent: Within the first 24 hours of Apple's launch Apple sold 300,000 units, and to date, nine incarnations of the iPad have gone on sale, with the Air 2 and Mini 3 being the most recent.
article_snippet.sent: *Note: The iPad 2 was the only iPad that had a number after The iPad 2 name (aside from the Air and Mini).
article_snippet.sent: While the iPad was by no means the first tablet on the market, the iPad successfully grew the industry to such levels that, today, news readers or presenters are often seen clutching an iPad when talking on the TV, where once news readers or presenters would have used paper.
article_snippet.sent: Launches of Apple products are often greeted by swathes of adoring fans - and that was none more obvious than with the launch of the original iPad.
article_snippet.sent: Pictured is Robert Scoble picking up the inaugural iPad on 3 April 2010 in Palo Alto, California .
article_snippet.sent: How far we've come: On the left is the original iPad, launched in 2010, and on the right the iPad Air 2, launched on 22 October 2014 .
article_snippet.sent: The latest variant of the iPad, the iPad Air 2, is shown here being unveiled by CEO Tim Cook on 16 October 2014.
article_snippet.sent: In total nine different versions of the iPad have made the iPad to market .
article_snippet.sent: Apple's iPad has widely been heralded as kickstarting the tablet industry, creating a huge new market between smartphones and laptops - and seeing many copycat devices made in the process .
highlights_snippet.sent: Apple's first generation iPad launched on 3 April 2010 .
  