On January 27, 2010, Apple introduced their much-anticipated media tablet, the iPad, running a modified version of iOS. It offers multi-touch interaction with multimedia formats including newspapers, magazines, ebooks, textbooks, photos, movies, TV shows videos, music, word processing documents, spreadsheets, video games, and most existing iPhone apps. It also includes a mobile version of Safari for web browsing, as well as access to the App Store, iTunes Library, iBookstore, contacts, and notepad. Content is downloadable via Wi-Fi and optional 3G service or synced through the user's computer. AT&T was initially the sole US provider of 3G wireless access for the iPad
On March 2, 2011, Apple introduced the iPad 2, which had a faster processor and two cameras on the front and back, respectively. It also added support for optional 3G service provided by Verizon in addition to the existing offering by AT&T. However, the availability of the iPad 2 has been limited as a result of the devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan in March 2011.
On March 7, 2012, Apple introduced the third generation iPad, marketed as "the new iPad". It added LTE service from AT&T or Verizon, the upgraded A5X processor, and the Retina display (2048 by 1536 resolution), originally implemented on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. The dimensions and form factor remained relatively unchanged, with the new iPad being a fraction thicker and heavier than the previous version, and minor positioning changes.
Since its launch, iPad users have downloaded 3 billion apps, while the total App Store downloads is over 25 billion downloads.