The invention of the tablet.

Surfing the internet, a quick search will show you the many tablets that are available to purchase
either online or in stores (if you are detailed and want to know everything about a tablet before you buy one, you will probably spend a couple of hours researching, making your search not so “quick”). The options seem to be infinite, depending on what you are looking for. There are a couple of them that are the most popularly known, which we are all familiar with; the iPad 1 and 2, the Kindle and Kindle Fire, the Nook, and the list goes on and on. Even though many- if not all-e-reader users are not concerned about who invented the tablet, my curiosity took me to do a little research to find who invented such magnificent devices.
I have to admit that before doing my research I “knew” that the tablet had been invented by that
technological genius that was Steve Jobs and Apple (and I believe many out there thought and are thinking that as well). So I only wanted to confirm that I was on the right track. To my surprise, the more I look to find some information the more I see the name of Stanley Kubrick, and many articles point him as the inventor of the tablet and not Steve Jobs or Apple. This has created some problems between Apple (creator of the iPad I and iPad II) and Samsung (creator of Samsung Galaxy among other products).
Stanley Kubrick was a movie director, screenwriter, producer and cinematographer. In his movie 2001: A Space Odyssey Kubrick showed what could be interpreted as a “tablet” (even though the more I see the images the less it seems to me to be a tablet). The idea is the same (at least
according to what Samsung claims). In the battle that Apple is having against Samsung in the search of the real inventor, the images of the movie previously cited are the argument of Samsung to claim that Apple did not invent the tablet. It seems a vague argument in my opinion because first as I said what is shown in the movie is not even close to what the tablet is today, and secondly because what is pictured in the movie never was real (at least not in the research I have done) and we can’t even prove that it worked. Obviously I might be missing information regarding intellectual rights, etc. that would probably make a difference.
The truth at least until August 24th, 2011 (the day that most articles talking about this issue are dated) Steve Jobs was the first person presenting and the one that patented the tablet, being the iPad I. It is interesting to notice and mention that all these problems between Apple and Samsung came as a response from the Korean company after they were prohibited from selling the Galaxy 10.1 in Europe (this prohibition was later lifted and the Galaxy 10.1 was sold in Europe).
The conclusion then, is that as of right now, Apple and Steve Jobs are recognized as the inventors
of the tablet, even though it seems that this might not be the final answer, and we will need to keep an eye out, if we want to know who invented the tablet. For now, you can just keep using you tablet (even if it is a Samsung Galaxy) since knowing who invented it will not affect its features.