Back to the future: The tablet computer that looks just like an iPad... but is 17 YEARS OLD



A tablet computer that looks remarkably like an iPad seems to spring up on a weekly basis.

But this device, also hailed as the future of home computing, was made 17 years ago.

Called The Tablet, it provided a glimpse into tomorrow's world that was incredibly accurate.

Scroll down for video

Look familiar? 'The Tablet' as introduced in a 1994 promo video, 15 years before the iPad was released

The release of the iPad last year has fulfilled tech firm Knight-Ridder's mission statement of what a tablet computer could provide

A 1994 promo film released by technology firm Knight-Ridder talks about 'taking today's newspaper into the electronic age'.

Even more astounding, with the benefit of hindsight, of course, is the video's assertion that consumers want a computer that doesn't come with a manual.

Roger Fiddler, who founded Knight-Ridder in 1992, talks of 'building a bridge of familiarity' with the public.

Nowadays, Apple has fulfilled that maxim - it is literally a case of turning an iPad on.

Mr Fiddler says in the video: 'All forms of media that we know today will be transformed in the next ten to 15 years.'

That prediction, made in the mid-1990s, has proved startlingly correct.

The iPad was released to phenomenal demand in 2010 - 16 years after Mr Fiddler introduced The Tablet.



Taking an introductory route, the video's voiceover says: 'It might be difficult to conceptualise the idea of digital paper, but we think that's what's going to happen.'

The Tablet was created by a team of journalists, designers and researchers.

It was never released, and was instead developed to show the media industry what the future of news consumption could hold.

Portable: The Tablet was created by a team of journalists, designers and researchers. It was never made available to the public

The voiceover promises: 'Tablets will be a whole new class of computer.

'They will weigh under 2lbs; they will be totally portable; they will have a clarity of screen display comparable to ink on paper; they will be able to blend text, video, audio and graphics all together; and they will be a part of our daily lives about the turn of the century.'

Apart from the weight - iPads weigh around 1.4lbs - the Tablet really was 16 years ahead of its time.

