Court Filings Provide Glimpse of Early iPad Prototype - PC Magazine

The iPad made its debut in 2010, but the popular tablet was in the works for years before it hit store shelves. In fact, it captured Steve Jobs's attention before the iPhone.

But what did that early iPad prototype look like? According to documents posted by Network World, the early iPad was similar to its modern-day counterpart, but was much thicker and lacked the home button now found on all iDevices.

Network World came across the early iPad photos while digging through court filings in the ongoing patent battle between Apple and Samsung. The prototype, referred to as the 035 mockup, was discussed during a Dec. 2011 deposition with Apple's senior vice president of industrial design, Jonathan Ive.

Ive told Samsung that his memory of early iPad development was "hazy" but speculated that he first saw a prototype between 2002 and 2004. He could not recall if the mockup was created in-house or by an outside vendor, but said the early iPad was likely "modeled as a consequence of the way that we work, which is as a team."

Like today's iPad, the prototype included the silver Apple logo on its white plastic back. The front screen has a black border surrounding the white, rounded edges.

As PCMag noted in our recent History of the iPad, Jobs tinkered with the idea of a tablet after an ill-fated tie-up with Motorola for the ROKR, which brought the iPod to phones. Jobs, however, later pushed aside the tablet PC project and snatched its multitouch concept for a new breed of phone. "If it worked on a phone, I knew we could go back and use it on a tablet," he said.

Apple has been fiercely protective of its iPad design, suing a number of tablet makers for copying the iPad with their own devices. The most prolific case is probably the battle with Samsung, which has spanned the globe and resulted in temporary bans on Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablets. The cases are ongoing.

In related news, Patently Apple this week reported that Apple was granted 25 new patents, one of which covers the iOS interface and a way to display electronic lists and documents.

"Apple's iPhone truly reinvented the smartphone and Apple's granted patent reflects the broad range of graphical user interface innovations that they brought to market," Patently Apple said. "Apple's patent covers UI modules covering blogging, email, telephone, camera, video player, calendar, browser, widgets, search, notes, maps and more importantly, a multi-touch interface."

For more, see PCMag's full review of the new iPad and the slideshow below.

For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.

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