iPad’s baby-daddy sees the light of day

Could it be almost ten years since the iPad was conceived? These photos show the early prototype of the iPad in all its thick and humongous glory.

Shown here in a rather grainy photo is the first mockup of an iPad. We have Jony Ive to thank for this blast to the past, as these photos are part of a deposition that the Apple designer gave to Samsung in December. The prototype was developed sometime between 2002 and 2004, meaning that the tablet as we know it has been around for almost a decade.

My god, but it’s huge. Check out the comparison above of the prototype against an iPad 2. The size difference is a joke. You could literally beat someone with the prototype; it would be a great self defense weapon. It looks to be about 1 inch thick, compared to the iPad 2’s 0.34 inches. That’s, as much as makes no difference, a third of the size.

One feature that set it apart from the finished product is the lack of a home button — or any buttons actually. There is a slit at the bottom, most probably for the 30-pin connection port, as well as headphone jack. Besides that, though, it’s quite featureless. One this is certain, Apple didn’t move very far from this to its finished product. Just goes to show. I wonder what we’ll see in another ten years.