[ianhowson]

I always imagined that the iPad came about because some engineer had a Retina iPhone prototype on a standard 72dpi screen and figured it might work to replace a laptop.

Take the old eMac software, and bam, iPad.

(100% speculation)

[saagarjha]

I believe “iPad” was actually being developed prior to iPhone and was put on pause while multitouch and other technology was lifted from the project to support iPhone.

[sjwright]

That's how Steve Jobs tells it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps&t=2233

[rvense]

The iPad was actually conceptualized before the desktop workstation was common:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynabook

[ddalex]

The iPad was conceptualized as a thin touch screen no-keyboard slate since at least 1992 in Star Trek TNG [0]

[0] https://i1.wp.com/www.techdigest.tv/star-trek-tablet.jpg?res...

[joezydeco]

The iPad was also conceptualized in 1988 as "Tablet", the winning entry in the Apple Computer "Design the Computer of the Year 2000" contest.

https://www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/academic/tablet-...

One of the members of the winning team was Stephen Wolfram.

[monocasa]

How about 1960s, with 2001: A Space Odyssey.

https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/did-st...

[mercutio2]

DynaBook was long, long before STtNG.