Apple’s iconic iPad

A Jan. 27, 2010, photo shows Apple CEO Steve Jobs with an iPad tablet during a product announcement in San Francisco. (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)

Oct. 21, 2013 4:57 PM PT

Three years ago, Apple unveiled the first iPad, which had a bigger impact than anyone could have imagined. PC and laptop sales have been dropping, and for the first couple of years, sales of iPads regularly eclipsed the most optimistic estimates.

People look at the Apple iPad on the first day of iPad sales at a Best Buy in Chicago on April 15, 2010. (Paul Beaty / Associated Press)

Apple CEO Steve Jobs speaks about a new case protector during an Apple event to unveil the iPad 2 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on March 2, 2011, in San Francisco. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

A Marine views a satellite image on an iPad at Camp Pendleton. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks in front of a giant image while introducing the iPhone 4s on Oct. 4, 2011, at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

An Apple fan brings an iPad with Steve Jobs’ image on the screen to the Apple Store in Santa Monica on Oct. 6, 2011, in remembrance of Jobs. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

An Apple employee carries boxes of new iPads at a store in New York as they went on sale around the world March 16, 2012. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

People wait in line at a store in New York to purchase the new iPad on the first day of its sale March 16, 2012. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

A Car2go employee shows how members can use a smartphone or iPad app to locate and reserve Car2go electric vehicles March 22, 2012, in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, announces the new iPad Mini during an Apple event Oct. 23, 2012, in San Jose. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

Apple CEO Tim Cook holds the iPad mini after it was unveiled at an Apple event Oct. 23, 2012, in San Jose. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

Christian Palmaz shows iPad integration at Palmaz Winery in Napa. (Charlotte Fiorito / Apple Inc.)

Developers look over new apps being displayed on iPads at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 10, 2013. Apple is expected to round out its line-up of gadgets for the holiday shopping season with the unveiling of its latest iPads on Oct. 22. (Eric Risberg / Associated Press)

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Apple’s iconic iPad

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