You are right about all that. Microsoft presented a tablet in 2002. I never seen it in stores myself until the iPad came out.

I just want to vent for a bit here--just ignore me if you want:I like Apple just because I get a lot time out of my 2009 MacBook Pro, iPad 2, and iPad Air. My brother and I each bought Sony e-Books when the price finally went down to $200. Dust gets under the screen and the e-ink fades to nothing in the sunlight. We used it two dozen times, so it was a waste of money we hardly have. Then we each bought the Microsoft Surface at $400. It forces us to use Internet Explorer only, every app is $6-$10, and there is no working YouTube, Twitter, FaceBook, or popular apps. I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab A and Tab Pro 10.1 with $50 discount on each for trading in the 1-year old Microsoft Surfaces. (I took the loss, because I bought a $8,000 car from Craigslist and it broke, and then I lost $300 selling and shipping my DVD collection on eBay. I do not know how to sell.) I disabled many Android applications and Chrome still lags. One of the screen is flickering even though I don't throw the tablet around. Now Apple's product quality drops so much that it is difficult to trust any tech company. When Steve Jobs was around, even though I do not know exactly what he did, iPods and iPhone 3, 4, and 4s seemed amazing. I bought three Zunes for $70 each and they became out of date after a year. Vent, over.