The iPad went on sale three years ago, on April 3, 2010. Many predicted that it would fail and, even today, many also believe that his death is near.

This week marked three years since the first iPad(Ainol Novo 10) went on sale, three months after being introduced by Steve Jobs. The situation was the same as always: lines at Apple Stores, anticipation, joy of fanboys and fangirls. But this time there was something else, something different, a wave of skepticism and criticism surrounding the iPad from the day of submission. The iPad would fail because it was a device without much sense, which was missing too many features and ultimately added nothing new to users.

The sticks will fall to iPad from all sides, many came from the specialized media, but many of competition not imagine that in a few months would be looking for themselves their own iPad-killers. Microsoft was one of the most critical companies, with Steve Ballmer said in July 2010 that people just trying to make the laptops or iPads(ICOO ICOU10GT) operated as Bill Gates explaining that it was revolutionary as the iPhone was. "He is a player that is fine, but there's nothing on the iPad to make me look and say 'Oh, I wish Microsoft had done that.'" Two years later, launched its Surface.

Other critics of the iPad was Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google still being asked someone to tell "the difference between a large phone and a tablet." Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, also had trouble distinguishing the iPad and other devices. "It's a bigger iPod Touch," he said shortly after the presentation of the tablet. Jim Balsillie, meanwhile, at that time still co-CEO of RIM yet, explained that the failure to support Flash would eventually kill the iPad. "We think consumers are tiring of that Apple told what to do."

3 years later: the predictions of death continue

Now that the iPad's success is undeniable, now that no one dares to say that the Apple tablet has revolutionized the market, now that all manufacturers have their own tablet(ONDA V801), it would be easy to believe that the reviews are over. Not so: the success of the iPad is not questioned, but are increasingly predicting his death. Sales have slowed, competition is catching force, the hype has passed ...

The reviews come from the same, now all with their tablets under his arm explaining that theirs are better than the iPad. "Now we are winning that war quite clearly," Eric Schmidt attacked in December last year. Steve Ballmer, meanwhile, explained in October that soon that Apple's dominance in the market for tablets his days as people look more "diversity".

What will the next three years of the iPad? Will be one of the top products of Apple or, as predicted by all his detractors, eventually sinking in its own bubble of success? The granting of the iPad mini, something that Steve Jobs had sworn never to exist, it could be a sign that the company itself is aware that competition could be very damaging. Birthday after birthday, we'll see if the iPad still surviving omens surrounding it since launch or if eventually all the critics are right.