Normally I read fairly quickly, but as I read Steve Jobs’ biography the pace at which I’m making my way through the book is slow at best.  As a fan of all things Apple and counting Steve Jobs as one of my heroes, I want to soak up every little thing the book has to offer.  One particular aspect of the book which I find compelling is Jobs’ mindset following the release of the first iPad.  According to the book, the launch of the iPad in January 2010 left him feeling ’annoyed and depressed’.

According to the story, biographer Walter Isaacson, describes the hundreds of emails to the personal account of Jobs in the days following the announcement as complaints from disappointed individuals:

‘There’s no USB cord! There’s no this, no that. Some of them are like, “**** you, how can you do that?” I don’t usually write people back, but I replied, “Your parents would be so proud of how you turned out.” And some don’t like the iPad name, and on and on. I kind of got depressed today. It knocks you back a bit.”

The book describes how the complaints continued to filter in until the April release of the iPad when consumers were finally able to use the device and realized the tablet’s significance.

Isaacson also tells the story of how Jobs was unhappy with the first iPad ads which he [Jobs] described as something similar to a Pottery Barn commercial:

“It was easy to explain what the iPod was – a thousand songs in your pocket – which allowed us to move quickly to the iconic silhouette ads. But it was hard to explain what an iPad was. We didn’t want to show it as a computer, and yet we didn’t want to make it so soft that it looked like a cute TV. The first set of ads showed we didn’t know what we were doing. They had a cashmere and Hush Puppies feel to them.”

Personally I found the name a little humorous at first, but never did I think the name, nor some of the device’s perceived lack of features, would harm the success of the iPad.

Never the less, the book, and in particular the annecdote above, provides some tremendous insight into the launch of the iPad and some of the vitrol spewed at Steve Jobs which affected him deeply.

What were your thoughts following the announcement of the first iPad?  Did the name and did the features some found lacking bother you?  Offer your thoughts in the comments below!

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