The iPad was the tablet that revolutionized the world of tablets, and in 2010 when Apple presented it, very few people gave it a chance of success, as happened with the iPhone. Well, contrary to all criticism and expectations, the iPad was successful in bringing a new and better way to use such a product, and Steve Jobs has a part of the credit for its success.
Before launching the iPad on the market, the Apple company tested many prototypes, and in the images below we see one of them, which was used by the engineers from Cupertino. This prototype was created at the beginning of 2010 by the people from Apple and of course it is still functional, running without problems SwitchBoard, a platform for testing Apple products.
Of course, the design of this iPad prototype is slightly different from the final product, but this is normal, considering that it was only used for testing. In general, devices of this kind are sold only to collectors, or companies that want to learn more about Apple's secrets, images of this kind being very rare.
"We have recently received pictures of an early 2010, fully functional, iPad 1 engineering prototype! The iPad 1 was debuted in […] 2010 and has since been a staple of Apple's annual product cycle. Pictured is a prototype from January of 2010. The rear shell of the iPad features an odd box-like etching around the Apple logo, along with four cut-outs in the aluminum (revealing the Wi-Fi antenna connections), multiple factory engineering assets tags (identifying the manufacturer of each part), as well as Apple Development Team prototype identification stickers, and two anomalous prototype serial numbers. On the front side of the iPad, the corresponding Development Team ID number is laser engraved into the glass in three places [...] The prototype is running a fully functional build of Apple's internal factory firmware, known as "SwitchBoard."
