In Pictures: The evolution of the tablet PC

We live in explosively innovative times for tablet computing and mobile apps. But it didn't all happen overnight. Most attempts to build a tablet-like computer, going back to the '70s, were not successful. Yet every failure was a lesson learned that led us to the iPad. Here's a look back at how the modern tablet came to be.

The Dynabook (1968)

The Dynabook , created in 1968 by computer scientist Alan Kay, was a prototype and never an actual product, but it was the blueprint for the modern laptop and tablet PC. The Dynabook was about two pounds, with an integrated physical or touchscreen keyboard and all early elements of a GUI. The target audience was children, who could use the device to connect to remote servers to access text and graphics for schoolwork. The Dynabook was never built because the technologies needed did not exist. But it was a major inspiration for the PCs, graphics and multimedia that would follow.

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